The Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada announced the adoption today of new standards for online ads. Taking its cue from the American industry's move to standardize ad sizes, the IAB put out what it calls the Canadian Universal Ad Package or CUAP.
The push to standardize on some ad sizes for online media will reduce costs for advertisers and eliminate inefficiencies associated with buying and creating online media, the IAB seays.
Online ads still make up an awfully tiny percentage of overall media advertising. The IAB said that in 2004, the Canadian online publishing industry posted revenue of $295-million. To put that in perspective, Bell Globemedia, which owns CTV and The Globe and Mail,put up $302-million in revenue (most of which was derived from the sale of advertising) in just the fiscal third quarter, which ended Sept. 30.
Future phases of the CUAP package (due later in 2005) will include rich media and video-streaming standards as well as online ad measurement guidelines.