Ad Quality Policy

Dated: October 8, 2021

SECTION 1 – AD BEHAVIOR GUIDELINES 

The following policies apply to any party (each a “Demand Partner”) engaging PubMatic to provide PubMatic’s proprietary digital online advertising services (sometimes referred to as the “PubMatic Services”, “PubMatic Demand Services” or “PubMatic Platform”) relating to the purchase of publisher’s and/or its clients’ advertising inventory (which may include websites, mobile applications and/or other digital media properties accessible through the PubMatic Services (collectively, the “Publisher Properties”)), the service of advertisements (sometimes referred to as “Ads” or “Creative”) onto such Publisher Properties. and and primarily govern the content of the Creative, and how it is displayed on Publisher Properties. Such access to the PubMatic Platform requires Demand Partner’s compliance with these policies.

SECTION 1.1 – GENERAL
  • Ads may not force a full-page redirect that takes end users away from the Publisher Property content without such user’s initiation (i.e., the ad may not attempt to navigate the browser to any other page, unless the user explicitly clicks or taps the ad). This restriction includes app-store redirects on mobile devices.
  • No auto-refresh of ad creative is allowed. Demand Partners are only allowed to show a single message and are prohibited from refreshing at any time after loading.
  • Ads may not spawn pop-up windows, JavaScript dialogs, or other features that obscure surrounding Publisher Property content. Ads may spawn new windows if the user clicks on the ad.
  • Pop-unders are strictly prohibited, as are additional windows or messages that spawn beyond the original ad.
  • Except for ad units specifically designated as expandable in nature, ads may not enlarge beyond the dimensions of their designated ad slots in accordance with applicable guidelines.
  • Ads may not contain viruses, spyware worms, Trojan horses, malware or other malicious content or code designed to disrupt, disable, harm or otherwise, impede any other associated software, hardware, computer system or network, or attempt to download executable files without user initiation (drive-by malware).
  • Ads may not promote or contain freewares and sharewares.
  • Ads may not contain access to or promoting copyright infringement material, pirated software, movies or music.
  • Ads may not falsify any end user interaction, such as fake clicks.
  • Ads may not initiate any action that would impact an end user without explicit permission (examples include, without limitation, prompting SMS messaging, installing an app, initiating a charge, etc.).
  • PubMatic will only accept ads to fill Publisher Inventory offered via the PubMatic Demand Services from advertisers that follow the Better Ads Standards developed by the Coalition for Better Ads. For more information, see www.betterads.org.
SECTION 1.2 – PROHIBITED AD BEHAVIORS AND AD TYPES
  • Pop-up/pop-under ads.
  • Prestitial or Postitial ads with or without countdown for both desktop & mobile.
  • Sticky ads.
  • High density-ads. Ads that take more than 30% in height of the page
  • Inter-scroller ads.
  • Ad errors as a result of winning and registering an impression where no ad creative is delivered is prohibited (e.g. the use of VAST or VPAID tags that result in VPAID errors).
  • No In-Banner Video (IBV). Without exception, video ads and creatives can only display in ad units and inventory identified as supporting video monetization.
  • Ads targeted to CTV devices must be available in SD and HD formats suitable for display on a large screen TV. Low resolution formats (less than 720 x 480p) or low frame rate formats (less than 30 fps) are not permitted.
  • Ads with fully loaded file sizes of 800kb or greater are classified as heavy network load ads and are prohibited.
  • No ad may request geo location data from user and/or browser.
  • All creatives must have attributes accurately declared. Examples include advertiser domain, auto-play video, click-to-play video and expandable ads.
  • Demand Services from advertisers that follow the Better Ads Standards developed by the Coalition for Better Ads. For more information, see www.betterads.org.
SECTION 1.4 – VIDEO
  • Ad errors as a result of winning and registering an impression where no ad creative is delivered is prohibited (e.g. the use of VAST or VPAID tags that result in VPAID errors).
  • All creatives must have attributes accurately declared. Examples include advertiser domain, auto-play video, click-to-play video and expandable ads.
  • No In-Banner Video (IBV). Without exception, video ads and creatives can only display in ad units and inventory identified as supporting video monetizing.
SECTION 1.5 – CTV
  • Ads targeted to CTV devices must be available in SD and HD formats suitable for display on a large screen TV. Low resolution formats (less than 720 x 480p) or low frame rate formats (less than 30 fps) are not permitted.
  • Ads with fully loaded file sizes of 800kb or greater are prohibited.
  • No ad may request geo location data from user/browser where it is served.

SECTION 2 – AD AND LANDING PAGE CONTENT GUIDELINES 

PubMatic requires that all ads served through the PubMatic Demand Services and PubMatic platform meet quality standards that protect the user experience, uphold the integrity of our supply partners, and adhere to current regulatory framework. PubMatic reserves the right to update these policies from time to time without notice.

2.1 PROHIBITED AD AND LANDING PAGE CATEGORIES 

Prohibited categories differ from the restricted categories referred to in Paragraph 2.2 below in that many of them may be legal in some regions, but not necessarily legal in all regions. In addition to the requirements in Section 1 above, creative content that contains any of the following content (without limitation) shall not be served onto Publisher Properties via the PubMatic Demand Services.

  • Adult ad content, including full nudity, or depictions or descriptions of sexual acts, in the ad creative or on the landing page.
  • Any claim that a third-party plug-in such as a Flash or Java player is outdated in order to entice users to download software.
  • Graphic or excessive violence.
  • Profanity in any language.
  • Material promoting illegal drugs or controlled substances.
  • Ad content that promotes or encourages harassment, bullying, threats, or similar content that advocates against any group, organization, or individual.
  • Discriminatory ad content, including that which promotes discrimination by race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
  • Deceptive or fraudulent ad content.
  • Ad content must not encourage criminal or any otherwise illegal behavior including, but not limited to, marketing products derived from endangered species, pirated software and digital games, counterfeit goods, etc.
  • Ads which show content related to guns and/or weapons, ammos, gun/weapon related accessories like scopes/optics, bore cleaner, targets, shooting stabilizers & rests. Prohibition includes any ads related to gun accessories included.
  • Surrogate Ads: Ads which promote banned products like cigarettes and alcohol in disguise of other legitimate products like sparkling water, or music CDs/DVDs.
  • Landing pages may not attempt to auto-download software without user consent.
  • Landing pages must allow user to leave the page with normal browser navigation and without spawning a confirmation dialog.
  • Demand Partners may not purchase Publisher Inventory to run ads with landing pages or sites whose sole or primary purpose is showing ads.

2.2 RESTRICTED AD AND LANDING PAGE CATEGORIES 

Restricted ad content may be generally legal in some jurisdictions, but, depending on the nature of the ad content and the context in which it appears in a creative, it may still be considered to be prohibited. Ad content containing any of the following (without limitation) may be restricted:

  • Ads for certain adult-oriented categories may be permitted by some of our inventory partners. These categories include dating sites, lingerie, strip clubs, and some adult products
  • Gambling ads are allowed if they target jurisdictions where the type of gambling advertised is legal; have a landing page or contain language required by law, such as a landing page that displays information about responsible gambling; and shall never target minors.
  • Alcohol-related ads are allowed if they don’t target minors, target end users in only those countries where local laws allow such ads, and fall into the following categories: beer, wine, sake, spirits or hard alcohol, sparkling wine, fortified wine, non-alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic wine, and non-alcoholic distilled spirits.
  • The promotion of online pharmacies and the sale of any prescription medication is prohibited; provided, however, that advertising from pharmaceutical manufacturers is allowed to the extent permissible by applicable law, rule or regulation in the jurisdiction(s) where such advertising is targeted.
  • Cannabis/THC & CBD advertising is allowed in jurisdictions where recreational use is legal, with the following considerations:
    • Ads must be geo locked to places where it is legally acceptable (CBD products can run without geo target)
      o Ads must run on a specific list of publishers that allow these types of advertising; some publishers require creative approval first
    • Ads must have some sort of clear labeling along the lines of “Adult Use Only” or “21+ Only”
    • Ads cannot make claims of benefits, especially regarding health/medical claims
    • Ads cannot depict doctors/health-professionals, nor have them making recommendations for products or usage
    • Ads cannot depict or actively promote use/usage or actively encourage new use/users
    • Ads cannot be in a style meant to appeal to young audiences (no cartoons/animations, etc)

2.3 RESTRICTIONS ON SERVING ADS INTO PUBLISHER PROPERTY CONTENT DIRECTED AT US CHILDREN UNDER AGE THIRTEEN (13); COPPA 

Publishers may designate some of their Publisher Property content as directed to, or otherwise frequented by minors in one of two regulatory fields transmitted in our bid requests: (1) COPPA, and (2) regs.ext.s22580. Please note that the regs.coppa field is set by the Publisher to note that an impression served onto such Publisher Properties falls within the scope of the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, as amended (“COPPA”). Similarly, the regs.ext.s22580 field is set by the Publisher to note that an impression on such Publisher Property falls within the scope of California Business and Professions Code Section 22580 (“BPC 22580”). The onus is on the Demand Partner for complying with COPPA and BPC 22580.

2.4 BID RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS 

  • Bid responses may not list an “advertiser” that is an ad network or other entity that is serving arbitrary creatives, without declaring the individual advertisers whose message appears in ads that are served (no arbitrage/reselling of PubMatic inventory allowed).
  • When bidding on Publisher Inventory via the PubMatic Demand Services for mobile and desktop inventory, bid responses must include creative IDs and all other mandatory fields including buyer seat IDs and Landing Page URLs (LPU). For CTV inventory, bid responses must include the aforementioned along with advertiser domain, and advertiser category.
  • All ads served with the same creative ID must be for the same advertiser(s). Demand Partners may not use a single creative ID for multiple materially distinct ads from a single ad network or similar entity–the creative ID must be representative of the advertiser that appears in the actual creative. Notwithstanding the above, A/B testing of different creative treatments for the same advertiser within the same creative ID is allowed. Further, “dynamic creative optimization” and testing of slightly different retargeting offers for the same advertiser is similarly allowed.
  • Buyers must comply with restrictions on ad content and formats that are described in bid requests, such as Open RTB’s imp.battr.battr.; For CTV inventory, buyers must comply with category and advertiser restrictions as set forth in Open RTB’s bidrequest.badv and bidrequest.bcat
  • Demand Partners may not resell bid requests received from the PubMatic Demand Services onto another SSP or exchange (including back into the PubMatic exchange) through a direct or indirect seller integration, without the prior express written permission of PubMatic.

SECTION 3 – EXCEPTIONS 

In the event Demand Partner desires to make any exception to this Demand Policy, Demand Partner agrees as follows:

  • Demand Partner shall seek an exception in writing (email to suffice) from PubMatic that reasonably details the nature of the exception sought, a copy of any creative content, and any supporting documentation that PubMatic shall reasonably require. This includes permission to run any ad formats not part of the Better Ads standard.
  • Demand Partner shall remain fully liable for any creative content that violates this Ad Quality Policy even if PubMatic has granted an exception in writing.
  • Demand Partner shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless PubMatic and its affiliates, and each of their officers, directors, employees and agents (each an “Indemnified Party”) from all third party claims and liabilities (including reasonable attorney’s fees and legal costs) arising from or relating to (a) any violation of this Ad Quality Policy by Demand Partner (even if an exception has been granted), (b) any violation of applicable laws, rules, or regulations (even if an exception has been granted), or (c) any infringement or misappropriation of any intellectual property right of a third party (even if an exception has been granted);

PubMatic reserves the right to pause/cancel any ad campaign found in violation of this policy without notice, and to update these policies from time to time without notice.