Procter & Gamble prepares to shake up the ad industry

Procter & Gamble, which spends roughly $10 billion in advertising annually, will no longer work with digital publishing partners unless they meet four standards, their Chief Brand Officer announced Sunday at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Annual Leadership Meeting

• Ads have to be viewed by a human, not just loaded on a page: P&G will only work with partners that adhere to certain standards around how much of an ad is actually viewed on a page when it loads, called viewability. The Media Rating Council says this standard is that display advertising units must load at least 50% of the way, 70% of the time.

• Ads have to be measured by a legitimate vendor: P&G will only work with media verification vendors partners that are accredited. Media verification is a process that determines the appropriate execution of Internet advertising campaigns. This exists for television, but is much more complicated for digital.
• Ad campaign contracts can't be sketchy: P&G will not work with companies that use questionable media contracts to establish digital partnerships. Questionable contracts could include hidden out-clauses, or non-transparent language around payment deadlines, for example.
• Ad fraud is a deal-breaker: P&G will work with and only buy media from those agencies and publishers that comply with Interactive Advertising Bureau ad fraud standards. "We don't want to waste time and money on a crappy media supply chain," said Mark Pritchard, CBO, P&G

Why it matters: As the largest advertiser in the world, P&G sets the standard for other large-scale advertisers to follow. The four issues highlighted by P&G are hotly-contested topics that are regulated by advertising coalitions, but have been traditionally hard to enforce. By taking an active stand against agencies and publishers that do not comply with industry standards, P&G is also forcing the market to comply with certain rules in order to win their business.