The Better Business Bureau’s Online Interest Based Advertising Accountability Program announced that that it will require interest-based video ads to provide notice and choice to viewers as of April 1, 2018, as we reported in our Advertising blog, in compliance with the Digital Advertising Alliance’s self-regulatory principles for interest-based advertising. As providers of interest-based video ad networks and services gear up for the deadline, there are three core areas to think about. First, the basics, are you engaging in interest-based advertising in the serving of your video ads? Now is the time, in advance of the April 1 date, to have these conversations with your business teams. Second, if the answer is yes, how are users being provided with notice? Is the notice compliant with the DAA Principles? For example, is it up-front? Does it direct users to a location where they can get more detailed information about your activities? Third, how are users being provided with choice? For those who engage in other types of interest based advertising, these steps will sound familiar. But expanding the conversation with marketing to video advertising may be new.

Putting it into Practice: Companies involved with video advertising should start now to evaluate their data collection practices to determine whether they are engaged in interest-based advertising and, if they are, whether they are providing consumers with transparency and choice, as required by the DAA Principles.