Centre frames new guidelines for online advertisements

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has framed new guidelines and criteria to empanel suitable agencies and fix rates for advertisements on websites, it was announced here on Thursday.

According to the new guidelines, only websites owned and operated by companies incorporated in India will be considered for empanelment by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP).

Websites owned by foreign companies can also be empanelled, if such companies have registered branch offices operating in India for at least one year, an official statement said.

The eligibility criteria for websites to get empanelled with the DAVP includes unique users (UU) per month data, which shall be "cross-checked and verified by internationally accepted and credible third party tool" that monitors website traffic in India, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry statement said.

"The guidelines aim to ensure that government visibility increases online by strategically placing advertisements on websites with higher unique users per month," the statement said.

The guidelines categorise the unique user per month data of the websites into three categories.

While the top category consists of websites with five million or more unique users per month, websites with 2-5 million traffic lie in the second slot. Finally, websites with 0.25 million to two million unique users have been kept in the last slot.

The DAVP shall be the nodal agency for all central ministries/departments for advertising.

However, autonomous bodies/public sector undertakings can directly release advertisements at DAVP rates and only to agencies empanelled with the DAVP, according to the new guidelines.

--IANS

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