Creative Future, a coalition of over 250 TV and film companies including most of the familiar names, says they are encouraged by the progress advertisers have made in cracking down on ad placements on web sites featuring pirated content.
"Your pledge to act to reduce digital piracy is commendable," said the coalition. "In your June 19 letter to the Co-Chairs of the International Creativity and Theft-Prevention Caucus, you highlighted the 'Core Criteria for Effective Digital Advertising Assurance' that you are developing, as well as the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s recently announced 'Trustworthy Digital Supply Chain Initiative'. We believe these are the kinds of industry-led voluntary actions that can most effectively take the profit out of piracy."
On June 19, the Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Interactive Advertising Bureau wrote the chairs of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus to express their "firm commitment" to fighting ad-supported online piracy. That includes coming up with criteria for digital ad assurances services, ones that agencies can use to prevent ads from showing up on pirate sites.
The associations said an initial document on those core criteria will be ready in the coming weeks and will be shared with the caucus members, with a final document by early fall.
In May 2012, the ad associations teamed on a new statement of best practices to combat online piracy, including language in contracts and insertion orders preventing placements on infringing site. Ad networks followed suit with their own best practices in July 2013. IAB also updated its guidelines to exclude selling inventory on content piracy sites.
"We appreciate past efforts by the advertising industry to reduce piracy, but also agree with you that more needs to be done," Creative Future said in its letter. "Legitimate advertisers often find themselves unwittingly supporting these sites with their ad dollars. Piracy jeopardizes the rights of all creative individuals, puts jobs at risk, and undermines innovative online distribution services."
