With all the issues related to ads plaguing the industry over the last several years, many people are looking for a better set of standards to help clean things up. Advertisers and ad networks are challenged by millions of wasted dollars due to ad fraud from one side, and a growing popularity of ad blocking software (both on desktop and mobile devices) on the other. While overall ad growth has continued to be strong, it is only a matter of time before these problems begin to dramatically impact the bottom line of everyone in the industry.
There are rumors floating around that Google is looking to create a new set of standards for the industry to help combat these issues. Google is one of the two massive players in the online ad industry (the other being Facebook) so it makes sense that they would want to take a lead in this area. If they continue to let things go as they have been, it is likely that Google will face some serious issues in the near future since they are almost entirely dependent on ad revenue.
Google is uniquely positioned to be able to push standards against things like slow ad load speeds, disruptive ads and other things that many people hate (which leads them to install ad blockers). We have seen some smaller ad agencies focus on improving the ads they supply, but since they only control such a small amount of the industry, it really does little to make change.
Leaders in Google’s ad departments have already talked about a desire to come up with criteria for what the industry will accept for ads. They have also commented that they need to work with publishers and others in the industry to help develop these types of standards.
Some people expect that Google will redouble their efforts to work with the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). The IAB has been working to create standards for quite some time, but they aren’t enforceable in any way.
If Google adds additional backing to the group, including fully adopting of the IAB L.E.A.N efforts, for example, it could really push industry change forward.
While for now these are all just rumors, it seems likely that Google will be taking a more proactive role in the coming months. We will have to watch closely to see what types of things they do and how they will impact digital marketing as a whole.
