Vibrant Media has cut the ad weight for its In-Text, In-Image, out-of-stream video and native ad formats by over 75 per cent to 30.5KB.

The new ad units supports the Internet Advertising Bureau’s industry-wide LEAN (Light, Encrypted, Ad Choice Supported and Non-Invasive) initiative to tackle the rise in ad blocking and to improve the quality of digital advertising for consumers. The LEAN principles were launched by the IAB’s Tech Lab in October 2015. IAB UK is due to publish a set of LEAN standards in October 2016 as part of a wider Charter on digital advertising best practice.

Vibrant Media said its new ad format are lighter than all its leading competitors in a like-for-like comparison. In fact, it adds, the in-text ad formats offered by closest competitor are 380 per cent – almost five times – heavier, while the industry’s “most popular” out-of-stream video ads are 290 per cent heavier.

Vibrant also noted that its all the ads it displays are hosted on secure servers and are communicated through HTTPS connections from end-to-end. They are also scanned for malware and other vulnerabilities and are AdChoice supported. The AdChoices self-regulation program enables consumers to opt out of being served behaviourally-targeted ads.

The company said it plans to be one of the first signatories to the IAB’s new Charter, and through its technical development and continuing work with the IAB, it also expects to be one of the first companies to be deemed to be compliant with the LEAN standards when they are published.

“The best solution to ad blocking is improving consumers’ experience so they never feel the need for an ad blocker in the first place,” said Vibrand Media founder and executive chairman, Craig Gooding. “Whilst the ad industry seeks to improve viewability, it must also display higher quality, more relevant, less interruptive advertising to appeal to consumers – and less advertising as a whole.

“Vibrant Media operates on a ‘less is more’ approach. We only show ads to one in 10 of the consumers that visit a page where the ads are available. Advertisers only pay for the ads that those consumers actually choose to see. However, those ten per cent of consumers engage and act upon the ads far more intensely than lesser ads and deliver the equivalent monetisation of 10 non-Vibrant ads to a publisher. That said, publishers need to reduce the amount of ad clutter on their pages, especially at the top. The more ads put in front of consumers, the more likely they’re going to use an ad blocker.”