Japan Magazine Advertising Association Establishes "Digital Magazine Advertising Transaction Guidelines"

The Japan Magazine Advertisers Association announced on May 24 that it had established the "Digital Magazine Advertising Transaction Guidelines." These guidelines define the fundamental principles for establishing regulations and rules aimed at enhancing the advertising value and ensuring stable operation of digital magazines, a sector expected to continue growing.

The guidelines define digital magazines as: "Publications that utilize the page data of paper-based periodicals produced by publishers, enabling the display of those pages on electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets via the internet or similar means, while retaining elements recognizable as the original publication, such as the publication title, cover design, and table of contents." They also define them as: "Individual digital magazines sold by publishers, or subscription services offered by content providers other than publishers." Meanwhile, "micro-content that extracts and utilizes only part of the page data" is excluded from this scope and identified as a future challenge.

Ad specifications were defined as "allowing the incorporation of expression methods such as video and audio beyond the placement of electronic magazine manuscripts" and "incorporating internet-specific functions such as link functionality, dynamic creatives, and networks."

Placement standards state that for content sold by publishers, "placement shall comply with the Japan Magazine Publishers Association's 'Magazine Advertising Placement Standards' and each publisher's placement standards, while also confirming and providing guidance on content as necessary." For digital magazine advertising, "the publisher's placement standards take precedence, but placement decisions will be made considering the judgment criteria of the platform operator, the business entity."

Effectiveness metrics: For individually sold digital magazines where the publisher is the seller, calculations follow the Japan ABC Association standards, similar to print magazines. For subscription services, the maximum ad reach is defined as the app's unique user count. However, the guidelines state, "We will continuously research and verify, exploring new norm values," indicating ongoing updates.

Additionally, the guidelines cover accountability, submission formats, validity periods and back issues, and data handling. Details are available on the Japan Magazine Advertising Association website.

The press conference held on the 24th at the Publishing Club Building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, was attended by Takao Katagiri, Chairman of the Association (Magazine House); Kiichiro Mori, Chairman of the Planning Committee (Hakuhodo Media Partners); and Nobuhiro Nagasaki, Leader of the Digital Magazine Advertising Task Force (Kodansha). They explained the background and overview of the guideline development.

Chairman Katagiri stated, "Our association's 2018 survey found that the electronic edition rate for print media exceeded half at 53.8%. The formats are diversifying, including unlimited reading, websites, SNS like LINE, apps, and email magazines. We formulated the 'Electronic Magazine Advertising Transaction Guidelines' to organize advertising metrics and operations in this new market. We aim to make it an easy-to-use and effective advertising medium for advertisers."