IAB Australia has launched new guidelines to help purchasers of advertising technology maximise their investment in five core pieces of technology critical to effective advertising.

The Advertising Technology Purchase Guidelines, developed by the IAB Executive Technology Council, examine supply-side platforms; data management platforms, demand-side platforms, verification tools and ad servers; providing simplified top considerations against each area.

It aims to empower purchasers of technology by providing them with the key information about each key area of technology and equipping them with questions designed to hold sellers to a high standard of account.

Kamani Krishnan, affairs director at the IAB, said: “Our aim is to simplify the ‘unknowns’ when it comes to digital advertising technology, so marketers and publishers can feel confident they understand the core purpose and function of each piece of technology through simplified structure and language.

“If we raise the level of understanding amongst purchasers of ad technology, we can drive better decision making, achieve greater return on investment and improve transparency within the ad tech supply chain.”

The guidelines include granular information on what to look for when purchasing technology – for example, within the viewability portion of the ad verification technology section there are six considerations that cover things like exposure time, accreditation for mobile in-app viewability, reporting via MRC, as well as some customised viewability-metrics.

The guidelines also include real world examples of how ad technology is used by Lenovo and Carsales.com.au.

Vijay Solanki, CEO of IAB Australia, said: “By educating the market, we can drive and improve transparency and weed out the minority of poor vendors that remain.

“We urge all executives in the digital, marketing and media industries to read, digest and use this work in their discussions with technology vendors.

“The guidelines are part of IAB’s mission to drive a common language, to increase knowledge and improve trust across the industry.”

The IAB has also released a quiz to accompany the guidelines to test marketers’ knowledge about purchasing advertising technology.

The guidelines are the latest in a series of publications designed to improve digital literacy and understanding released by IAB Australia.