Advertising Demand Policy
Sovrn strives to provide buyers and sellers with a safe, transparent, and fair marketplace. The following outlines the minimum standards Sovrn employs to vet buyers wishing to participate on Sovrn’s ad exchange. This does not constitute an exhaustive list and is meant to serve as a guide for buyers wishing to work with Sovrn.
The world is an ever changing place, and Sovrn strives to change with it. As a result, we reserve the right to update this list at any time without notice and to refuse or revoke participation of any buyer at our sole discretion.
Ad Inventory Guidelines
The following ad inventory guidelines elucidate Sovrn’s ad quality standards. Ads that do not meet these guidelines may be subject to platform-wide blocks, and buyers providing such ads may also be prohibited from purchasing inventory. Buyers that repeatedly violate these guidelines may have their access to inventory restricted. Buyers that purchase or place ads on behalf of their own affiliates or customers must ensure that the ads they purchase or place comply with these guidelines.
General
- Buyers are required to comply with the Ad Standards and Creative Guidelines set out by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. For more information, see iab.com/guidelines/iab-new-ad-portfolio/
- Buyers are required to follow the Better Ads Standards developed by the Coalition for Better Ads. For more information, see betterads.org.
- Buyers must provide readers with clear notice of their privacy practices, including, where required, notice of behavioral targeting through mechanisms like the Digital Advertising Alliance’s “AdChoices” icon.
- Advertisers that engage in behavioral advertising must allow readers to opt out of targeted advertising. Buyers must abide by all user opt-out and/or privacy signals, including those sent through relevant IAB frameworks or browser based signals.
- Buyers are required to provide Sovrn with a direct point of contact or clearly defined escalation path to assist with the resolution of any detected ad quality issues.
Ad Creative Behavior
- Ads cannot trigger pop-ups or pop-unders.
- Ads may only initiate a new tab or window if the reader clicks or taps on the advertisement.
- Ads cannot trigger uninitiated redirects. Redirection should only result from an informed, affirmative reader action like clicking or tapping on the advertisement.
- Ads may not auto-refresh. Only one ad shall be served per impression purchased.
- Ads may not contain malware, viruses, adware, spyware, or trojan horses. Ads cannot download executable files without an end-user affirmative action.
- All ad units that obstruct or interrupt the reader experience must feature a clear close button and abide by reader decisions to close or minimize the advertisement.
- Ad units may only expand beyond the dimensions of their designated ad slots when explicitly designated as expandable.
- Ads may not auto-initiate audio in a display advertisement without a user initiated action like a click or tap.
- Ads may not attempt to phish a reader or collect information through misrepresentation.
- No ad may request geo location data from user and/or browser.
- Video ads may not be injected into banner advertisements or ad formats that are not explicitly intended for video creatives.
- Length of video advertisements must not exceed 30 seconds for every 1:30 of content shown. It is permissible to serve multiple placements shorter in length equating to 30 seconds, but the number of impressions per pod must not exceed 3 individual advertisements.
Ad Creative Content
- The content of advertisements should be reflective of the content found on the destination URL of the advertisement and cannot be misleading to readers.
- Sovrn will not accept ads that contain:
- nudity, violent imagery, hate speech, or otherwise objectionable content;
- firearms, weapons, or accessories for firearms and weapons;
- misleading claims, misinformation/disinformation, or adversarial narratives;
- or tobacco, vaping, and nicotine products.
- Ads cannot feature illegal content.
- Surrogate ads in which a brand associated with a prohibited or restricted category is advertising unrelated products with the intent of raising brand awareness.
- Ads may not encourage a user to click on the advertisement through the use of deceptive imagery or language.
- Ads must be clearly differentiated from the content of the site and cannot appear to mimic site functionality.
- Cannot mimic system dialogues, notices, or errors.
- Ads targeting CTV devices must have a resolution higher than 720 x 480p and a frame rate equal to, or higher than, 30fps to match SD and HD formats.
- Ads serving In Web and In-App environments for both Display and Video formats that have not been interacted with by the user should not:
- Use the main thread for more than 60 seconds in total
- Use the main thread for more than 15 seconds in any 30 second window
- Uses more than 4 megabytes of network bandwidth
Ad Landing Page Behavior
Landing pages and sites cannot exhibit the following behaviors or functionality:
- Initiate the download of software without a reader’s explicit affirmative action consenting to the install.
- Serve misleading prompts to update/install plug-ins or software is prohibited.
- Impede a reader’s ability to navigate away from, or close, the landing page of an advertisement is prohibited.
- Attempt to phish a reader or collect information through misrepresentation or deceptive practices.
Ad Landing Page Content
Landing pages and sites cannot include the following:
- Violent or graphic imagery
- Nudity or depictions/descriptions of sexual acts
- Profanity, offensive/mature language, or mature themes
- Illegal drugs, controlled substances, or associated paraphernalia
- Hate speech, bigotry, bullying, harassment, threats, or discrimination that advocates against any group, organization, or individual
- Misinformation, disinformation, or adversarial narratives
- Misleading or unsubstantiated health claims
- A primary focus on advertising or showing ads
- Illegal gambling
- Content that infringes in the intellectual property of a third party including, but not limited to, copyrights, patents, trademarks, or service marks
Restricted Categories
Restricted ad categories contain content that is only suitable for specific audiences (for example, age restrictions in the case of alcohol and cannabis advertising); Sovrn publishers who have opted into having the ad categories from serving on their property; or are only legal in specific jurisdictions. Buyers are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable laws. Please speak with your account manager before serving any ads in restricted categories.
Restricted categories include (but are not limited to):
- Gambling
- Cannabis & CBD
- Alcohol
- Pharmaceuticals
- Adult oriented products and business related to dating lingerie, intimacy products and dating sites
- Crypto currencies and crypto exchanges
Political Advertising
Buyers must comply with all applicable federal and state laws regarding political advertising. Political ads may be subject to restrictions that you are required to abide by, including, but not limited to, the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Principles on Political Advertising.
Bid Response Requirements
- Bid responses must include creative ID, seat ID, landing page URL, and an advertiser URL or domain. The advertiser domain must be the actual advertiser’s site and not a passthrough URL.
- All creative attributes must be accurately declared including, but not limited to, expandable ads, click-to-play video and auto-play video.
- Creative ID (CRIDS) must uniquely represent an individual Advertising Creative. It is not permissible to assign the same Creative ID across multiple Creatives even if those creatives belong to the same Advertiser.
- Demand partners must respect any limitations, flags, and restricted values expressed in the bid request including, but not limited to, minduration, maxduration, battr, badv, bcat, etc.
Buyers with questions regarding any of the guidelines presented in this policy should contact their account representative.
