DST19200 - Online Advertising Services

DST19000 explained that the revenues of an online advertising service are included in the revenues of a digital services activity when the online advertising service is associated with the digital services activity. This section explains what is meant by an online advertising service and provides a highly simplified overview of the online advertising industry.

The legislation defines an online advertising service as an online service which facilitates online advertising.

This definition is broad and is intended to cover online services at all stages in the online advertising process or value chain. It also includes supporting technologies which facilitate the display of online advertising.

This includes:

  • Demand-side platforms (DSP)
  • Supply-side platforms (SSP)
  • Ad exchanges
  • Publisher and advertiser ad servers
  • Analytic programmes
  • Web browsers

This list is non-exhaustive. Any online service which facilitates advertising online will be an online advertising service.

Although they may facilitate advertising by providing an outlet for advertisements, other publishing services are unlikely to benefit from their association with the digital service activity and so will only be in scope of DST when they are themselves a social media service, search engine or online marketplace.

Type of advertising

The legislation is non-prescriptive about the type of advertising facilitated by the online service. This means the online service will be an online advertising service regardless of the form of the advertising. The only requirement is that the service displays or serves adverts online.

Consequently, the format of the advertising does not matter. Services which facilitate search advertising (e.g. paid-for listings in search results), display advertising (e.g. image or video based adverts) and classifieds will all be online advertising services.

Similarly, it does not matter whether the advert is highly targeted based on the characteristics of the user or the nature of the publishing platform or is more generic advertising like banner advertising.

Example

Group ABC provides an ad server which facilitates the placement of adverts in augmented reality games on mobile platforms. The ad server is an online advertising service.