Advertising Specifications

HuffingtonPost.com Advertising Specifications

Advertising Requirements

General Requirements

• HuffingtonPost.com accepts GIF, JPEG, Rich Media & Third Party Served ads.
• 30-second maximum for any animation.
• 4 loops max.
• Any sound must be user-initiated, defined as a click and not a mouseover or rollover, and clearly labeled with "Play" and "Stop" controls.
• Up to 3 additional loads of up to 50k each may be initiated after a user moves their cursor over or clicks on the ad.
• Flash files must be published as version 8 or below, and the frame rate must be less than or equal to 24 frames per second.
• HuffingtonPost.com does not accept advertising that is directly competitive and/or disparaging to HuffingtonPost.com. Moreover, HuffingtonPost.com maintains ultimate editorial control over all content and materials which appear on its site, and reserves the right to refuse or withdraw an advertisement or campaign for any reason at any time in its sole discretion.
• Advertisements promoting specific public policies, advocacy issues, or political/candidate campaigns must include a "Paid for by ___" label on all frames of the advertisement.
• For the ad to be made clickable, clickTag code (shown below) should be attached to an invisible button. The invisible button (a button that contains only a hit state) should be the same size as the ad unit and placed on the topmost layer of the Flash file. I must read exactly as shown below:

       on (release, releaseOutside) {
           getURL(_root.clickTag, "_blank");
       }

Lead Times for Submissions

HuffingtonPost.com requires the following lead times prior to campaign launch dates for receipt of creative assets and active URLs:

• Non-rich media / 3 business days
• 30-second maximum for any animation.
• Rich media / 7 business days

In-Page Units

UAP Guidelines

Over-the-Page Units

User-Initiated Expanding Ad Creative Guidelines

• Expanding ads are subject to frequency capping.
• The expanded portion must close within 15 seconds and must be clearly marked with a “CLOSE X” button in at least 10-pt type in the upper right hand corner of the expanded portion of the ad.
• User-initiated expanding ads that expand upon mouse-over must clearly indicate their rollover functionality with language such as “roll over to learn more” or “roll over to expand.”
• The expanded portion must automatically close when the user’s cursor moves off the ad.
• Expanding big boxes must be able to open to the left, and expanding leaderboards must be able to expand down.
• Expanding ads may only be viewed on certain browsers and operating system platforms. Huff Post will test expanding ads and will not show the ad for any browsers or operating systems where the technology causes system instability.

Curtain Unit

High impact homepage ad unit. The curtain “drops” once (for approx 3-5 secs.) then conveniently rolls back up -- leaving an integrated marquis display of brand. Offers 100% SOV – great to supplement a roadblock.

Creative Guidelines

• Expand and collapse buttons must be built in.
• Please send FLA and SWF files.
• Include any necessary fonts.
• Flash 8 or lower

For the Curtain Unit: 938x200

• Max File Size: 45K
• Looping Restrictions 1
• Max run time: 7 seconds
• Please include "Collapse" button with this click command:

        
      getURL('javascript:Curtain.collapse();');
  
  

For the Reminder Unit: 938x100

• Max File Size: 30K
• Looping Restrictions: 3
• Max Run time: 15 seconds
• Please include "Expand" button with this click command:

  
        getURL('javascript:Curtain.expand();');
  
  

Code any other clickable areas in the creatives like this:

      on (release) {
          getURL (_level0.clickTag, "_blank");
      }

Homepage Trailer Promo

High impact and high reach ad unit. Incorporate your video trailer.

Mov or flv file under 100mb. Can not be 3^rd party served, though tracking accepted.

Site Skin

Top Panel (970x150):

25k max
Important images and messaging in this portion.
No animation
Not clickable
Can not be 3^rd party served. Can not add tracking. We will provide reporting.
Creative is required 5 business days in advance.

Side Panels (tile format):

50k max – no width/height restriction, as long as 50k or under.
It is strongly suggested that no messaging is placed in the sides for users with small screen resolutions.
No animation
Not clickable
Can not be 3^rd party served. Can not add tracking. We will provide reporting.
Creative is required 5 business days in advance.

Most Popular Sponsorship

234x60 (gif or jpg only)
25k max
No animation
Can not be 3^rd party served, though tracking accepted.

Mobile

234x60 (gif or jpg only)
25k max
No animation
Can not be 3^rd party served.

Video Pre-roll

HuffingtonPost.com allows video to appear before editorial video. The streaming video ad is clickable and has pause, play and mute buttons.

Creative Guidelines

• 15 seconds max video length.
• Video aspect ratio: 4:3.
• .mov, .swf, .flv, .avi accepted.
• Video ad is clickable, please supply a click through URL and any tracking pixels.

Email Units

HuffingtonPost.com accepts image creatives of 160 x 600 (GIF or JPEG Only) for HTML e-mails.
No animation.

Can not be 3^rd Party Served, though tracking accepted. The maximum accepted image size is 20K.

Additional Formats

HuffingtonPost.com will consider accepting the following formats on a case-by-case basis:

• Non user-initiated expanding ads
• Content pushing expanding ads
• Pop-Under advertising (non-homepage)
• Full Page Takeovers
• Video

(revised 03.17.2009)