Advertising Solutions

AutoTrader.com has developed a comprehensive guide to advertising and rich media for the consumer site. This includes supported vendors, formats, and governing standards. Our goal is to support a wide variety of product that can be used to satisfy the growing demands of our automotive advertisers. Product Management serves as an advocate for every area of the business, facilitating the connection between media vendors, sales and our advertisers.

AutoTrader.com is committed to maintaining the following principles in advertising:

• ATC provides a stronger ROI for our customers' advertising dollars than traditional media and online competitors
• ATC strives to maintain a quality consumer experience at all times
• ATC utilizes the most effective technology solutions to serve targeted advertising content
• ATC offers a streamlined product set to simplify the business process
• ATC adheres to strict standard of decency in advertising content
• ATC is committed to continuously developing and delivering innovative online advertising solutions to remain a market leader

• AutoTrader.com reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to reject or discontinue, for any reason and at any time, any advertising for any product or service.
• AutoTrader.com reserves the right to make changes and/or exceptions to these guidelines at any time in its sole discretion.
• Advertisers must agree to be bound by any such changes.
• Nothing in this document is intended to constitute an offer to enter into a binding agreement, and this document should not be viewed as such.
• AutoTrader.com reserves the right to reject any ad on behalf of, or which promotes AutoTrader.com competitors or products, services or activities contrary to AutoTrader.com’s competitive position or interests (e.g. ads which disparage the Internet as a medium).
• Avoid deceptive messaging; Ads may not use faux operational error messaging or symbols, i.e., a "your system may be vulnerable" message, icons signifying system problems, system folders or icons, system status indicators/message, etc
• AutoTrader.com requires that all advertisements be in 'good taste' (as determined by the publisher') and not include vulgarity, hate, and/or sexually explicit content.
• All ads should have a clear distinction from AutoTrader.com and must have:
  • Distinct border to clearly identify where the page ends and the advertisement begins.
  • Advertiser name
  • Logo
  • Ads may not be designed to blend into the screen to give the appearance of AutoTrader.com content/functionality.
• The sponsor of the advertising message must be clearly identified in the ad unit.
• It is the advertiser's responsibility to ensure that all product claims, warranties, guarantees or other assurances comply with applicable laws & regulations.

Advertisements cannot:

• Contain pixilated or unclear designs/logos/images
• Imagery that appears to have functionality but does not; such as drop-down menus, radio buttons, etc.... No fake or simulated HTML interactivity.
• Ads cannot mimic the colors or look & feel of AutoTrader.com without approval
• Imagery that does not accurately reflect what is being offered which could mislead the consumer.
• Creative cannot use the AutoTrader.com name or logo without pre-approval from AutoTrader.com

• No host-initiated banner audio is permitted.
• All audio must be user initiated by click
• Where Host-initiated animation is permitted; accompanying audio must be off until user-initiated by click
• Visible Stop/Play and pause or mute functionality MUST be visible
• Looping: User can select additional loops by using play functionality
• Length: 30 seconds maximum on audio served in conjunction with a video stream. Audio served independent of a video stream may be 15 or 30 seconds.

Advertisers CANNOT set cookies on AutoTrader.com sites without written permission.

• Version: 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10 (AS2 & AS3)
• Frame Rate: 12-18 fps. Adobe (Macromedia) recommends keeping the frame rate as low as possible.
• Backup GIF: A backup GIF must be supplied in order to ensure smooth delivery
• Clicktags/Tracking: Click-through functions must use the "Get URL" command.
• All flash files must open in a new window
• The "W Mode" must be set to "opaque." It should not be set to "transparent" or no setting at all.
• The action script code needed for the button layer in your Flash file should look exactly as it is below.
• Keep the button on its own layer at the top of all the layers so it is never covered.

on(release){

       getURL(_level0.clicktag,"_blank");

}

Following are requirements for submitting HTML creative:

• Ads must be live and fully functioning at time of submission
• No JavaScript except for onChange events (No <SCRIPT> tags)
• No nested TABLEs
• Reference images locally and submit image fragments along with the HTML code
• Do not include <HTML>, <META>, <HEAD>, <TITLE> or <BODY> tags
• No divs (No <div> tags)
• No cascading style sheets(CSS)
• No flash fragments
• The only acceptable FORM method is GET. Method=POST is not allowed
• Image maps must be client-side
• No "mailto" tags
• Forms must have a unique name
• The arrangement of the form and table tags should be as follows: <FORM><TABLE></TABLE></FORM>
• Target URL may not exceed 200 characters
• Use a color palette of 256 or less adaptive colors with flat, web-safe colors
• Designer must test creatives across all major browsers and versions prior to submission. At minimum, Netscape versions 4.0 and higher and Internet Explorer versions 5.0 and higher must be tested.

Preferred Rich Media Partners: PointRoll, EyeBlaster/MediaMind, DoubleClick, EyeWonder, Unicast, Atlas, MediaPlex, Linkstorm

Tag Types Accepted: Javascript (preferred format), Standard, and 1x1. Iframe tags not permitted.

*See expansion guidelines.

**Only applies to the 300x100 Tier 2 placement on the Homepage. Prior approval is required for expansion.

• There is a 100k total Max Weight on the page at any given time.
• The roll over " hot spot" can only take up to 33% of the ad space
• The ad must have a clearly marked "call to action" Ex. 'Rollover to Expand'
• The action that causes the panel to expand MUST also cause the panel to retract.
• Click open/click close: The creative can be set to expand with the user click; the panel retracts when the user clicks a clearlymarked close button.
• Mouse over/mouse off: When a user passes a mouse over the creative, the panel expands; the panel retracts when the mouse is removed. The creative still needs a clearly marked close button that closes the panel upon click.
• *If 728x90 In-Line Promo ad expands, the rich media provider must package this placement with Push Down functionality as opposedto Expandable functionality.
• ** Only applies to the 300x100 Tier 2 placement on the Homepage. Prior approval is required for expansion.

Ads must conform to specifications outlined herein. Elements not meeting specifications will be returned for revision, which may delay the launch date.

Creative Lead Times:

• Standard IAB ad units: creative materials must be received 5 business days prior to start date.
• Custom ad units: creative materials must be received 5 days prior to start date

New Rich Media Vendors/Tags:

• New vendor tags must be submitted 15 days prior to launch to enable thorough testing.
• A deployment may be required for new vendor tags, please plan accordingly.
• 3rd party tags must be live at the time of submission to enable thorough testing before launch.
• For Flash ads, an alternate image conforming to the designated gif/jpg specifications must be provided for use in the event that user's browser does not support Flash 6.0 and above.

• Video may be host initiated except on the Homepage
• Max Time: 30 seconds
• File Size Restrictions: 1MB Broadband; 500k Narrowband
• Audio is defaulted to "Off" and must be user initiated by click
• Must contain functioning stop/pause and play, and audio controls
• Looping: User can select additional loops by using play functionality
• Bandwidth detection is required
• 115 kbps and above = Host-initiated video experience
• Under 115 kbps = User-initiated video / back-up graphic (GIF, JPEG, SWF) / or appropriately encoded Host-initiated video
• Video must be engineered to load after all page elements have loaded (JavaScript "onLoad()"

• Available in all Autotrader.com approved ad sizes.
• Must be built by an approved Rich Media vendor.
• File Size: Alt image GIF/JPG = 20k; Initial Flash = 40k; Total File Size = 2.2MB (with video)
• Animation/Looping: Allowed; unlimited looping within 15 seconds
• Video: True Streaming; progressive download available on click only; 30 seconds maximum length; 2.2MB maximum file size
• Audio: Available on click only; 30 seconds maximum on audio served in conjunction with a video stream. Audio served independent of a video stream may be 15 or 30 seconds.
• Hot Spot Restrictions: Hot spot should be no more than 33% of the entire ad unit.
• Button Restrictions: Stop/Mute & Start buttons required. Play, Stop/Pause, and Mute buttons preferred.