Below you will find the production specifications for a multitude of the advertising opportunities that SignOnSanDiego.com has to offer. Of course, your online account manager will work in partnership with you to develop an advertising program that best achieves your marketing and business objectives.

• General Ad Requirements
• Standard Online Ad Units
• Newsletter Sponsorships

• IAB Guidelines
• Rich Media Specs
• SWF getURL Instructions
• Video Specs

GENERAL AD REQUIREMENTS

• Accepted formats: GIF, JPEG, SWF, Rich Media & Third Party Served ads.
• Ads in SignOnSanDiego.com e-mail newsletters cannot use Flash or rich media.
• Creative with a white/grey/light-colored background must have a minimum 1-pixel dark-colored border to differentiate ad from editorial content.
• All sounds must be user-initiated, defined as a click and not a mouseover or rollover, and clearly labeled with “Play,” “Stop,” and/or “Sound On/Off” controls.
• All SWF (Flash) files that are served by SignOnSanDiego.com's ad server must contain the appropriate “GetURL” tags for click-tracking purposes. Click here to view instructions.
• News site advertising cannot be directly competitive and/or disparaging to The San Diego Union-Tribune or SignOnSanDiego.com.
• News site advertising cannot promote specific features of their online coverage and/or site in their ads on SignOnSanDiego.com.
• All public policy, advocacy, political or candidate advertising must include a “Paid for by ___” label on all frames of the ad. It must be clear who placed the ad.

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STANDARD ONLINE AD UNITS

Ad Unit	Dimensions & Formatting	File Size	Animation Length	Rich Media Details	Other Details
Monster Box	300 x 600 pixels	30 kb	15 seconds	Accepted max file size 40 kb
Leaderboard	728 x 90 pixels	30 kb	15 seconds	Accepted max file size 40 kb
Skyscraper	160 x 600 pixels	30 kb	15 seconds	Accepted max file size 40 kb
Big Box	300 x 250 pixels	30 kb	15 seconds	Accepted max file size 40 kb
Tile Careers / Real Estate	120 x 240 pixels	30 kb	15 seconds	Accepted max file size 40 kb
Tile Run of Site	125 x 125 pixels	30 kb	15 seconds	Accepted max file size 40 kb
Tile – Entertainment Section	120 x 90 pixels	30 kb	15 seconds	Accepted max file size 40 kb
Video Ads	300 x 250 pixels				User-initiated sound. AVI, MOV, MPG, VMV files supported
Floating and Overlay Ads	Dimensions vary per section, call your sales representative for more information	60 kb	10 seconds	Accepted max file size 60 kb	Third party accepted, including Eyeblaster, Pointroll and Shoshkeles

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NEWSLETTER SPONSORSHIPS

Newsletter	Ad Units & Dimensions	Rich Media	Notes
U-T Daily News	300 x 250 Big Box	Not Accepted	See Online Ad units above for specific size restrictions. All ads must be locally served.
Entertainment Wire	300 x 250 (other sponsorships available)	Not Accepted	See Online Ad units above for specific size restrictions. All ads must be locally served.
Hot Wire	728 x 90 Leaderboard, 125 x 125 Tile, “Top Deals” feature	Not Accepted	See Online Ad units above for specific size restrictions. All ads must be locally served.
Career Wire	120 x 600 Skyscraper	Not Accepted	See Online Ad units above for specific size restrictions. All ads must be locally served.
Auto Wire	120 x 600 Skyscraper	Not Accepted	See Online Ad units above for specific size restrictions. All ads must be locally served.
Home Wire	120 x 600 Skyscraper	Not Accepted	See Online Ad units above for specific size restrictions. All ads must be locally served.

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Internet Advertising Board (IAB) Guidelines

Format Category	Format (WxH)	Max Initial Load File Size *	Additional File Weight (Polite Download)	Flash Specifics	Audio Initiation	Maximum Animation Length	Controls	Web Site Labeling & Other Items
In-Page Video Units	See IAB Ad Unit Guidelines, for example, 300x250	40 KB	1.2MB**	18 fps	User Initiated (on click)	Anything up to 15 seconds	Control = “Close X,” Play, Pause, Rewind, Volume Font = 16 pt	Label = “Advertisement” Font = 16 pt
Expandable/Retractable Units	User-initiated Expandable Ads: See IAB Ad Unit Guidelines. Landing Spots: Maximum width of 2X the initial ad size*	40 KB	80 KB	18 fps	User Initiated (on click)	Anything up to 15 seconds	Control = “Close X” Font = 16 pt Location = On Edge of Original (non-expanded/expanded) unit Feature = Enable Mouse-Off Retraction	Label = “Advertisement” Font = 16 pt
	User-initiated Retractable Ads: Maximum width of 600 pixels. Landing Spots: See IAB Ad Unit Guidelines					Expansion: 3 seconds, if no user interaction Up to 15 seconds within ad
Pop-Up or Pop-Under Units	Pop-ups: 250x250; 300x250	40 KB	80 KB	18 fps	User Initiated (on click)	Anything up to 15 seconds	Provided by Browser Window	See IAB Pop-Up Guidelines for more details
	Pop-up Large: 550x480
	Pop-under: 720x300
Floating Units	Variable	80 KB	160 KB	18 fps	User Initiated (on click)	Floating: 10 seconds max, if no user interaction Up to 15 seconds within ad	Control = “Close X” Font = 16 pt Location = Fixed placement at the location of the first completely visible frame	Label = “Advertisement” Font = 16 pt
	Landing Spots for Floating Ads: See IAB Ad Unit Guidelines					Not Applicable
Between-the-Page Units	a.k.a., Transitional Ads: See IAB Ad Unit Guidelines	80 KB	160 KB	18 fps	User Initiated (on click)	Transitions: 10 seconds max, if no user interaction Up to 15 seconds within ad	Control = “Skip Advertisement” Font = 16 pt Location = Above the Fold in Lower Right Corner of Ad	Label = “Advertisement” or “Brought to you by” Font = 16 pt Location = Above the Fold and at Top of Ad

*300x250 ads only need to expand to 500x250
**If Video is part of any other rich media units, polite download file weight should adhere to In-Page Video Limit of 1.2 MB.

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RICH MEDIA AD SPECIFICATIONS

SWF GetURL Instructions

ALL FLASH (.SWF) FILES MUST USE clickTAG, AND NO EMBEDDED URLS.

The clickTAG action script is designed for use with ActionScript 2.0. Please ensure that your Flash file is set to ActionScript 2.0, a static .JPG JPEG image of the Flash Ad must also accompany the .SWF file, the .FLA file must be Flash CS3 compatible. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Go to the “File” menu.
2. Select “Publish Settings.”
3. Under the “Flash” tab, set “ActionScript version” to ActionScript 2.0. (see an image)
4. Then click on the “Formats” tab and click on the ”JPEG Image(.jpg)” check box so that a .JPG file is generated when the ad is published. (see an image)
5. Click ”Ok“ to exit the Publish Settings screen and apply new settings.

Once your Publish Settings are set to ActionScript 2.0, follow these steps to insert the clickTAG script:

1. Create New Layer (make it the top layer)
2. Choose Rectangle Tool and create box over entire image (ok to go past image edges, color doesn’t matter).
3. Click on Selection Tool and select new box you created.
4. Hit F8 (convert to symbol) and choose Button (name doesnt matter).
5. With new image selected; In Properties section, in Color menu choose ALPHA and set to 0.
6. With New image selected (properties should show it as a “Button”); in Actions section, type in the following code:
   on (release){
   getURL(clickTAG, "_blank");
   }
   
7. Move the pink current frame slider on the timeline to the frame where you want the .JPG file to be generated. (see an image)
8. Export movie as .SWF file and the .JPG file by selecting "Publish" from the file menu.

Expandables (over-text or push-down)

• BigBox — 300x250, expands (left) an additional 200 maximum. Total ad size including expanded is 500x250 maximum.
• LeaderBoard — 728x90, expands (down) an additional 225 maximum. Total ad size including expanded is 728x315 maximum.
• Wide SkyScraper — 160x600, expands (left) an additional 300 maximum. Total ad size including expanded is 460x600 maximum.
• The max K size of the complete ad load is 100k.
• Animation is allowed in both the initial ad, and the expanded ad itself.
• Any sound used must be user-initiated.

Homepage Corner Peels (Sample)

• The size of item at top-right corner is 100x100 pixels.
• The max size of the expanded ad can be 750 wide x 600 tall (pixels)
• The max K size of the complete ad load is 100k.
• The ad can "peelback" upon initial page load for 5 seconds, then roll back into the top right corner of the page. There must be a frequency of 1-per-24 hours set for auto-expand.
• When ad is expanded there needs to be at least 2 visible CLOSE buttons for users to stop animations and close the ad. Any sound used must be user-initiated within the expanded ad.
• To expand the peelback manually, users can either mouseover or click on the top-right corner item.
• When expansion is user-initiated it can remain open until the user manually closes the ad.
• Animation is allowed in both the top-right corner item, and the expanded ad itself.
• The ad must have the normal getURL (clickTAG) scripts in the SWF files. Embedded URLs are not allowed.

Homepage Pencil Ads (Sliding Billboard with Pencil Leave-Behind) (Sample)

• 970x35 — pencil ad, 20k max size.
• 970x350 — expandable (not including pencil ad), 100k max size.
• Pencil cannot be animated (only static), but expandable can be whatever you choose.
• Expand direction is down only, pushes down content not overlay.
• Visible X CLOSE button to appear on right side of expanded ad.
• Expands automatically only 1-per-24 hours.
• Re-expand must be user initiated.

Video Ad Specs — Pre-Roll Advertising

Pre-Roll:

• Length: Maximum 15 seconds
• FLV, MPEG2. MOV, WMV
• Bit rates: 300-700 mbps
• Resolution: 640 by 480 (400 by 300 minimum)
• Frame Rate: 15 frames per second

Big Box (companion ad):

• 300 by 250 pixels
• Flash, GIF, JPEG, Third-party ad tags (no Rich Media)
• Max File Size: 40kb

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