Content Guidelines

Minimum content requirements
In order to be a part of the OpenX Ad Exchange, sites must contain substantive, original content and demonstrate signs of user engagement. OpenX does not work with sites that:

• Contain content of little to no value to the user (i.e. boilerplate text, text from Wikipedia, stale news stories, etc.);
• Feature mainly links or content taken from other sites without meaningful commentary or curation;
• Have little content other than ads;
• Have little to no evidence of an engaged user base;
• Appear designed primarily to display ads; and/or
• Are parked or undeveloped domains.

Banned categories
In addition to the foregoing requirements, sites featuring the following content may not participate in OpenX Ad Exchange:

• Pornographic or highly suggestive content or images;
• Online gambling;
• Sales of weapons or ammunition;
• Sale of tobacco;
• P2P file-sharing, torrent, or anything that facilitates or promotes copyright infringement;
• Extreme violence;
• Hate content, including sites that advocate the superiority of a specific race or ethnic group;
• Excessive profanity;
• Promotion of illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia;
• Promotion of black-hat hacking, cracking, or warez;
• Any other content that is illegal, promotes illicit or harmful activity, or infringes on the rights of others. This includes sites that provide “how-to” information on bomb-making, lock-picking, and similar topics;
• Defamatory or libelous content;
• Distribution of viruses, malware;
• Pay per click or pay per search programs;
• Chat/Instant Messaging;
• Video chat and live streaming;
• Proxy sites; and/or
• Significant unmoderated UGC (user-generated content).

Restricted categories
Please also notify your Account Manager if your site contains any of the following content, as special restrictions or limitations may apply:

• Adult humor;
• Suggestive content;
• Sexual health;
• Significant user-generated content;
• Sale of alcohol; and/or
• Sale of prescription drugs.

Slideshows
A slideshow is a series of images or other content where the user may advance by selecting a forward icon, page number, or other similar link. The below policies apply to all webpages where slideshows are a prominent page feature (hereafter called “slideshow pages”). Requirements for slideshow pages:

• Each slideshow page may contain a maximum of three ads.
• All ads must be positioned at or above the lowest part of the slideshow. For mobile implementations, a single ad may also appear immediately below the slideshow content.
• Slideshow pages that automatically advance without a user click may not load new ads.
• The content of each slide must differ materially from the previous slide’s content. For example, minor changes to the slide’s text or image do not constitute a material change and are not sufficient to load new ads.
• Auto-refresh is not permitted on slideshow pages.

Implementation Guidelines

Basic guidelines

• The publisher site may not initiate a download or change settings without the user’s knowledge and consent.
• The publisher may not mask or cloak the site’s URL, or employ any means to obscure the true source of traffic.
• The publisher may not artificially inflate impressions, clicks, or requests.
• The publisher site may not install or distribute malware or viruses.
• The publisher may not include or launch fake error messages or system flags.
• A substantial portion of the publisher’s site must be accessible without a login.
• The publisher may not employ any means to induce or trick the user into clicking on an ad. Placing arrows or text such as “Click here” next to an ad is strictly prohibited.
• Publisher sites deemed unsafe by reputable 3rd party malware-detection services may be suspended without further notice, at OpenX’s sole discretion, from OpenX Ad Exchange until all user safety issues are addressed to the satisfaction of OpenX.
• Publisher sites must include a privacy policy and, if required by applicable law, a cookie policy.
• Publisher’s inventory specifications and criteria provided to the OpenX Ad Exchange must be true and accurate.
• Publisher must comply with all industry group guidelines/principles that Publisher claims to abide by (as well as any guidelines/principles that are required by the industry groups of which Publisher is a member or in which Publisher participates).
• Publisher must collect, obtain, disclose and use data in compliance with its privacy policy and all applicable laws (including all applicable privacy laws), including by acquiring all necessary and required permissions to collect, use, and transfer data.
• Publisher must comply with any applicable Digital Advertising Alliance Self-Regulatory Principles (for Online Behavioral Advertising, for Multi-Site Data, and guidance on the Application of Self-Regulatory Principles to the Mobile Environment), including provisions on obtaining consent for the collection, use, and transfer of precise geolocation data, and with the IAB Europe OBA Framework if applicable.

Ad number and position

• Publisher must not edit or modify ads in any way, including but not limited to, resizing the ads.
• Ads must be clearly separated from other page content. It must always be clear to the user what is an ad and what is site content.
• Ads may not be obscured or altered in any way. For ads shown in iframes, the iframe must allow the entire creative to be fully visible to the user.
• Ads may not appear in pop-up or pop-under windows.
• Ads may not appear in the body of emails.
• Ads must appear within standard web pages or mobile apps. Ads may not appear in other downloadable applications.
• The page may not contain an excessive number or density of ads. For most pages, no more than 3-4 ads is appropriate.
• Publishers may load new ads only when:
  • the user navigates to a new page;
  • the current page is substantially updated with new content AND at least 1 minute has passed since the last refresh.

Audience

• The publisher must acquire traffic primarily from organic sources and shall use best efforts to ensure that none of the traffic is fraudulent.
• Unless you have a separate written agreement signed by OpenX that explicitly grants you an exception to this rule, OpenX Ad Exchange does not accept websites, apps, or other online properties that are “directed to children” under age 13 as that term is defined by the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and implementing regulations.

Site ownership

• The publisher must either:
  • own all sites on which they place ads; or
  • have a direct relationship with the owner of all sites on which they place ads.
• Inventory from applications, including browser plug-ins and toolbars, that insert advertisements into the body of 3rd party web pages or other online properties without the website’s permission is not acceptable.