unicornnews: ASA moves into online regulation

An interesting development over in the advertising sector now. The UK’s Advertising Standard’s Authority will extend its remit and start policing online advertising activities thanks to a deal with Google. The advertising industry’s regulatory body has been interested in having a more proactive role in overseeing online marketing for a while now, especially so called ‘search advertising’. But the body is funded by the industry it regulates, and has so far struggled to agree with key players in online advertising, in particular US-based Google, how its regulation of their part of the industry should be paid for.

But the ASA announced yesterday that Google had agreed to provide “vital seed capital” to help launch a digital advertising regulation initiative. However, the agreement is pretty short term, and a more long term arrangement needs to be sorted out. Nevertheless, it has been hailed as a landmark deal in the self-regulation of online advertisng. 

The ASA‘s Winston Fletcher told reporters: “This stands to be an incredibly important development in effective self regulation by the advertising industry. It promises to strengthen significantly the reach and work of the ASA, which will be good for our industry and vital for consumers. The active role that Google has played has been essential”.

Posted Wednesday November 11 2009 by Chris Cooke

Related categories: Advertising Regulation