The Seattle Times Network Advertising Submission Policies

The following Advertising Policies and Specifications will help guide advertisers and their agencies in preparing advertisements for display on The Seattle Times network. These policies and specifications apply to all advertising appearing on The Seattle Times network.

The advertiser is solely liable for the Advertiser Content.

• All ads must spawn (open) a new browser window when clicked on.
• All ads must have a minimum 1 pixel border to clearly distinguish advertising from editorial content.
• All rich media files compiled in Adobe Flash must be published to Flash Player 8 or higher.
• Ads should not mislead users into navigating to a site that is unrelated to the content of the banner ad.
• All ads must have the advertiser clearly identified.
• Audio must be user-initiated with a click. Audio must have clear on/off switch.
• All third party tags must include a list of all ads to be rotated and a .gif or .jpg image of each ad.
• In-banner animation of any form may run for a maximum of 15 seconds without being re-initiated by the user. The animation can loop a maximum of 3 times in 15 seconds.
• All non user-initiated ads must be reviewed by The Seattle Times Online Advertising Art Director prior to scheduling and are accepted on a case-by-case basis.
• We do not accept advertisements that intend to influence search engine rankings. To this end, any hard-coded paid link must contain the rel=”nofollow” tag.
• All ad units may have an "Advertisement" label automatically inserted next to them by The Seattle Times.
• All ads built using Adobe Flash, must use the WMODE settings of either “Transparent” or “Opaque”. (Prevents ads from showing through the interstitial)
  
• Expanding ads must expand and collapse on rollover/off with clearly stated language such as 'rollover to learn more' or 'rollover to expand'.
  

Frequency Capping

User frequency capping restricts the number of times a type of advertising is presented to a user over a period of time; it does not refer to individual campaigns or ad units. User frequency capping may be imposed on all high-impact ads including, but not limited to floating ads, sliding billboards and interstitials. Please contact your account executive or email websales@seattletimes.com for more information.

Faux Functionality

Ad creative that incorporates misleading faux functionality include graphic and/or text elements designed to mimic computer operating system commands and functions, false close “X” boxes, system warnings, or faux system dialogue boxes. The Seattle Times Company Network sites reserve the right to make changes to these guidelines at any time at its sole discretion.

Third Party Ad Tags

We accept standard and JavaScript ad tags.

Use of JavaScript tags is highly recommended. I-frames may result in improper display.

All third party tags are subject to approval and require an additional three (3) business days for site integration testing. Ad tags must be live when submitted to allow thorough testing prior to launch. Campaigns which delay load time or fail to appear on the site are strictly prohibited and will be immediately pulled. Campaigns rotating unapproved creative’s are strictly prohibited and will be immediately pulled. Swapping creatives when using a third party ad server is strictly prohibited unless and until the new creative has been pre-approved; ads violating this policy will be immediately pulled.

Policy Statement: The Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com) uses 24/7 RealMedia’s OpenAdStream as its ad serving technology. OAS is The Seattle Times sole trusted source of data. We do not guarantee any other data source.

Accreditation: OAS is accredited by the Media Rating Council (www.mediaratingcouncil.org) for audience measurement and is certified to be accurate and reliable. Audits are performed to certify results.

Billing:  OAS is the sole source of schedule, impression, click-thru, and additional metrics utilized for billing of advertising campaigns.  Differences in tracked metrics between OAS reporting and any 3rd party tracking mechanism will not be means for make-goods, discounts or refunds unless previously agreed to at time of contract between The Seattle Times Company and agency.

Discrepancies:  Because 3rd party tracking scripts and pixels use different and varying methods for tracking metrics, they will almost certainly produce differing results. Discrepancies can result from counting metrics at different points in the ad loading process, unexpected interactions with other code on the page, or improper implementation of the 3rd party tag.

Overview: The Seattle Times may, at its sole discretion, allow one 3rd party tracking mechanism per display ad creative.

Creation:  The advertiser or agency providing the ad creative will also supply the 3rd party tracking code. The creative process is dependent on asset delivery, including any 3rd party tracking code; process cannot start until all assets are delivered.

Rejection:  The Seattle Times retains the sole right to reject 3rd party tracking if it is determined to violate our privacy policies, cause significant page load increase, interact negatively with other elements on the page, or for any other reason.

Quality Assurance:  Each 3rd party tracking will be reviewed in order to ensure that it meets our quality guidelines and ad policies.

Testing of Functionality:   The 3rd party tracking will be directly inserted into the ad creative and will not be modified or updated in any way. The Seattle Times will not test to confirm functionality of the 3rd party tracking. It is the sole responsibility of the advertiser or agency to provide complete and functioning code for use as the tracking mechanism.

Clear Distinction from The Seattle Times Online Network Brands and Content

• Ads must be clearly distinguished from The Seattle Times Company Network sites content.
• Ads must contain the advertiser’s name.
• Ads may not be designed to blend into the screen to give the appearance of The Seattle Times Online Network content or functionality.
• Ads may not emulate The Seattle Times Company Network sites' style buttons.
• Ads may not have transparent backgrounds without a border.