IAB U.S. Guidelines Reference

Back to Standards & Guidelines

IAB Canada supports many IAB U.S. Guidelines and Standards. We encourage our members to familiarize themselves with, and to follow, these initiatives:

Mobile & HTML5 Guidelines:

Other important guidelines:

Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) – Launched June 2011, ongoing project – A cross-industry coalition (made up of IAB, ANA and 4A members in the US), committed to developing brand-building digital metrics and cross-platform measurement solutions.

Site Tagging Best Practices – Released February 2014 – This educational document provides insight into the rise of site tag usage to meet evolving marketing needs, identifies areas for potential value loss to site owners, and offers prescribed best practices to mitigate these risks. More information.

Spiders & Bots List – The IAB International Spiders & Bots list is available from the IAB US website, but is historically an expensive purchase for Canadian companies. IAB Canada is pleased to offer Canadian-only members to get an IAB Associate Member discount. This means the $14,000 USD annual cost is reduced down to $7,000 USD for Canadian companies. More information about the list and how it works can be found here. If interested, send an email to spiders@iabcanada.com and we’ll get your annual subscription set-up.

Ad Verification Guidelines (PDF) – Released February 2012 – These guidelines for the conduct of ad verification companies consist of a common set of methods and practices for conducting ad verification services. Ad verification is a service that offers technology to ensure that ads appear on intended sites and reach the targeted audience. More information.

Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) 4.0 (PDF) – Released April 27, 2016 – Download the VAST 4.0 XSD  – The IAB’s Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) specification is a universal XML schema for serving ads to digital video players, and describes expected video player behaviour when executing VAST-­formatted ad responses. VAST 4.0 adds critical functionality that opens up the in-stream digital video advertising marketplace, reducing expensive technical barriers and encouraging advertisers to increase video ad spend. More information.

Digital Video Player-Ad Interface Definition (VPAID) 2.0 (PDF) – Released April 2012 – The Video Ad-Serving Template (VAST), another IAB specification, provides a common ad response format for video players that enables video ads to be served across all compliant video players. However, VAST alone does not provide support for rich interactivity. VAST alone only supports relatively simple in-stream video ad formats that are not executable. These simple ad formats do not provide an interactive user experience, and do not allow the advertiser to collect rich interaction details. More information.

Digital Video Multiple Ad Playlist (VMAP) 1.0 (PDF) – Released July 2012 – The IAB Video Multiple Ad Playlist (VMAP) specification is an XML template that video content owners can use to describe the structure for ad inventory insertion when they don’t control the video player or the content distribution outlet. More information.

Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions (MRAID) 2.0 (PDF) – Updated April 2013 – MRAID, or “Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions” is an IAB attempt to define a common API (Application Programming Interface) for mobile rich media ads that will run in mobile apps. This is a standardized set of commands, designed to work with HTML5 and JavaScript, that developers creating rich media ads will use to communicate what those ads do (expand, resize, get access to device functionalities such as the accelerometer, etc.) with the apps they are being served into. The ultimate goal: Agencies will be able to quickly and easily run creative across applications from different Publishers. More information.

Tablet Buyer’s Guide (PDF) – Practical advice for advertising on tablets.

OpenRTB API Specification Version 2.3 (PDF) – Revised June 2015 – The Real-Time Bidding (RTB) Project, formerly known as the OpenRTB Consortium, assembled in November 2010 to develop a new API specification for companies interested in an open protocol for the automated trading of digital media across a broader range of platforms, devices, and advertising solutions.

For IAB Canada ad guidelines, please visit our creative guidelines page here.

For IAB Canada Standard Terms & Conditions, click here.