Twelve online advertising companies have announced the formation of Internet Advertising Sales Houses of Australia (IASH), an industry body that will take over the mantle from Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

Members voted Phil Duffield, managing director of AD2ONE Group, as president of IASH Australia, with director of Full Circle Neil Fox as vice-president and managing director of PostClick Andrew Lockwood as honorary treasurer.

The founding members of IASH Australia have adopted a code of conduct that will encourage best practice among Australian online advertising sales houses, working to increase advertiser and media buyer confidence in the sector, undertake research, and work with industry bodies such as the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) to promote online advertising.

“The MFA congratulates the online industry on the formation of IASH Australia and applauds the commitment by the founding members to the code of conduct audit, seeing it as an important step in the maturity of digital media,” said Kerry Field, Partner Innovation, Mindshare and MFA digital sub-committee chair.

The industry body indicated that through the code, IASH Australia members aim to ensure online advertising placed via their networks does not appear on websites that could jeopardise advertisers’ brands.

IASH Australia said that it would work closely with ABC Australia to deliver a rigorous audit to ensure their members meet and adhere to the code of conduct.

“With the independent assurance ABC Australia’s auditing of the code of conduct will provide, the sector can continue to promote growth and evoke further confidence from both advertisers and media buying agencies,” asserted new IASH president Phil Duffield.

Members of IASH Australia include AD2ONE Group, Adconion Media Group, Digital Network Sales, Full Circle, Gorilla Nation Media, MaX Interactive, Multi Channel Network Pty Ltd (MCN), PostClick, Response Directive, 3D interactive (3Di), Tribal Fusion and Valued Interactive Media.