These are Guardian News & Media Limited’s Advertising Terms and Conditions. We recommend that you read them carefully and we draw your attention, in particular, to the following clauses: B(5), B(6), D, G, H, I and K.
These Terms and Conditions are for businesses and are not to be used by consumers.
A. Definitions and Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions
1. Guardian News & Media Limited (“GNM”) accepts publication of Advertisements (as defined below) on the terms and conditions set out herein (“Terms”).
2. These Terms apply to:
print advertisements in the Guardian and the Observer newspapers (“Newspapers”) and the Guardian Weekly magazine (“Magazines”);
inserts in the Newspapers and/or Magazines (“Inserts”);
online advertisements on www.theguardian.com (the “Website”);
online advertisements on any of the Guardian’s mobile applications (the “App”); and
audio advertisements in any GNM podcasts, including on third party platforms (“Podcasts”).
(together “Advertisements”).
3. In these terms “Advertiser” means the person bidding for or placing the order for the Advertisement whether they are the advertiser of the product or service referred to in the Advertisement or the advertising agency or media buyer for such advertiser. By placing an order, the Advertiser accepts and agrees to be bound by these Terms in full.
4. Where the Advertiser is an advertising agency or media buyer, the Advertiser represents and guarantees that it is authorised by the advertiser of the product or service to place the Advertisement with GNM in accordance with these Terms.
5. These Terms take effect on the date on which the Advertiser places its order for the organised programme of advertising and promotional activity in respect of the Advertisement (the “Campaign”).
6. GNM reserves the right to decline any Campaign, order or booking or decline to publish any Advertisement or decline to undertake any Campaign activity and accepts no liability for any loss or damage suffered by, or claim made against, the Advertiser, as result of GNM’s decision to decline.
7. Any words following the terms including, include, in particular, for example or any similar expression shall be considered as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words preceding those terms.
B. Content and Delivery of Advertisements
1. Materials for any Advertisement (whether print or digital) must:
a. adhere to all applicable technical specifications and format or other requirements set out here and here or otherwise communicated by GNM to the Advertiser; and
b. be delivered to GNM by any delivery deadlines communicated by GNM to the Advertiser (Delivery Deadline).
2. The Advertiser agrees that nothing in these Terms shall restrict or otherwise effect GNM’s editorial discretion and GNM may at any time require any Advertisement that it considers unsuitable, contrary to these Terms or incompatible with its editorial or news reporting to be amended or delivered at a different time.
3. Following a request by GNM under B(2), if the Advertiser fails to amend the Advertisement to GNM’s reasonable satisfaction, or does not agree to a different delivery time, GNM may:
i. reject or cancel that Advertisement;
ii. amend the Advertisement; and/or
iii. remove, not print or serve, suspend or change the position of any such Advertisement.
Where GNM undertakes any of these actions, it will have no responsibility or liability in any way to the Advertiser except to refund in full any sums paid by the Advertiser to GNM for that particular Advertisement less GNM’s costs incurred in relation to the Advertisement.
4. The publication of an Advertisement by GNM does not mean that GNM accepts that the Advertisement has been provided in accordance with these Terms and any applicable legal requirements or that GNM has waived its rights under these Terms or at law.
5. The Advertiser represents and guarantees to GNM that:
i. any information supplied in connection with the Advertisement is accurate, complete, true and not misleading;
ii. the Advertisement does not suggest any endorsement, support or connection with GNM or contain anything likely to be prejudicial to the image or reputation of GNM;
iii. it has obtained the consent of any person whose name or image (in whole or in part) is contained in any Advertisement;
iv. the Advertisements are legal, decent, honest and truthful, are not contrary to the provisions of any applicable law, regulation or code of practice (including the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (the “CAP Code”) and all other codes administered by the Advertising Standards Authority), are not libellous, discriminatory, misleading or obscene and do not infringe the rights of any third party (including intellectual property rights);
v. all digital Advertisements submitted for publication on the Website and/or on the App will be free of any viruses, adware, malware, bit torrents and other harmful material, and no Advertisement will cause an adverse effect on the operation of the Website and/or the App; and
vi. all digital Advertisements comply with the standards for online advertising published by the Coalition for Better Ads (https://www.betterads.org)
6. It is the responsibility of the Advertiser to check that the Advertisement is correct when it is published by GNM. If the Advertiser in good faith believes that there is a substantial error with the published Advertisement, the Advertiser should notify GNM in writing as soon as possible and in any event, within 5 days of the Campaign ending. It is the Advertiser’s responsibility to inform GNM of any errors and provide any necessary assistance to GNM to prevent a repeat of the error. GNM will not be responsible for repetition of errors in published Advertisements.
7. If there is an error in the published Advertisement that is the fault of the Advertiser, then the Advertiser will compensate GNM in full for any claim or demand made against GNM, and for any loss and liability suffered by GNM as a result of the error.
8. If there is a substantial error in the published Advertisement that is solely due to a mistake on GNM’s part, then GNM shall, on request by the Advertiser, re-publish the corrected Advertisement at no additional cost to the Advertiser. This shall be the Advertiser’s sole remedy for error and it is only available in the case of a substantial error.
9. GNM is not required to accept any changes by the Advertiser to the Advertisement or changes to the positioning of the Advertisement after the order has been submitted. If GNM agrees to any such change to the Advertisement, the Advertiser’s order shall be cancelled (by either GNM or the Advertiser) and the Advertiser will need to resubmit a new order for the Advertisement, together with the desired changes. The Advertiser agrees that this new order may be subject to a different fee to the original order.
10. GNM requires print Advertisements to be supplied print-ready via one of GNM’s trusted ad delivery companies.
C. Payment
1. Except where otherwise agreed in writing by GNM, all Advertisements are accepted on the basis that they will be paid for at the prevailing rates set out in the rate card on the date of publication. GNM may change its rates at any time by amending the rates set out in the rate card. Any changes to the rates will take effect immediately. However, any changes to the applicable rates will not apply to any orders made prior to the date of such change.
2. All sums payable to GNM must be made in accordance with GNM’s Financial Terms & Conditions which are: Unless an Advertiser has applied for and been accepted as a credit account customer, GNM will provide services only on a pre-payment basis, with receipt of cleared funds in full prior to the booking being confirmed. If the Advertiser wishes to apply for a credit account, it must complete a Credit Application Form which is available on request from its sales contact. Until credit facilities are granted the Advertiser will remain on pre-payment terms. GNM’s standard payment terms are cleared funds 28 days from date of invoice. If the due date falls on a weekend or bank holiday the payment is due on the first working day immediately prior to the due date. As payment is due as cleared funds, under current banking arrangements, payment by bank transfer should be processed by the Advertiser at least three working days prior to the due date. GNM reserves the right to charge interest on late payment at 4% above the Bank of England base rate.
3. GNM may refuse to publish any Advertisement for any Advertiser who has not paid any sums due for such Advertisement. The Advertiser will remain responsible for all outstanding charges.
D. Online Advertisements (including Website, Apps and Podcasts)
1. Subject to D(5), the Advertisement will be served to meet the number of impressions booked by the Advertiser +/- 10% , at which point the Advertisement will be withdrawn (even if the number of impressions are met before the end of the Campaign period).
2. The Advertiser acknowledges and agrees that discrepancies of up to +/- 10% regarding the number of impressions served are common for a variety of technical reasons. In the event of any disagreement regarding the number of impressions served, the Advertiser agrees that the figures provided by GNM’s applicable third party provider will be final and binding.
3. If the number of impressions served during the Campaign is less than 90% of the number of impressions booked by the Advertiser, the Advertiser should notify GNM in writing of such under-delivery within 5 days of the Campaign ending. Provided that the Advertiser has notified GNM in this way, GNM shall, as the Advertiser’s sole remedy, continue to serve the Advertisements after the end of the Campaign period until at least 90% of the number of impressions booked is achieved.
4. If the number of impressions served during the Campaign exceeds the number of impressions booked by up to 10% then the Advertiser will be liable for such over-delivery of impressions (including all costs). If the over-delivery of impressions exceeds 10% of the total impressions booked, GNM will only be liable for any costs arising from the over-delivery if such over-delivery arises due to GNM’s act or omissions.
5. In the event the copy for the Advertisement is received after midday on the day before an Advertisement is due to be published, the number of impressions booked will be reduced on a pro rata basis for every 24 hours that the copy for the Advertisement is supplied after this deadline. For example, if copy is provided 2 days late for a Campaign that is due to serve 100,000 banners in a 10-day period, the number of impressions will be reduced by 20,000. There will be no reduction in the fee payable by the Advertiser.
6. GNM agrees that all Advertisements will be targeted at individuals located, or purporting to be located, in the UK unless otherwise agreed in writing between the parties at the time of booking.
7. Where non-UK targeting is required, GNM will endeavour to target the Advertisement at individuals in the geo-location specified at the time of booking.
8. The Advertiser represents and guarantees to GNM that any landing page and/or destination site linked to from the Advertisements (“Advertiser’s Site”) will (i) be legal, decent, honest and truthful, (ii) not be contrary to the provisions of any applicable law, regulation or code of practice (including the CAP Code), (iii) not be libellous, misleading or obscene, (iv) not infringe the rights of any person (including any person’s intellectual property rights); (v) be free from viruses, adware, malware, bit torrents and/or other harmful material, (vi) not cause an adverse effect on the operation of the Website and/or the App, and (vii) have a conspicuous privacy policy which complies with all applicable data protection and privacy laws, regulations and codes of practice.
9. The Advertiser’s Site will not, in GNM’s reasonable opinion, be prejudicial to the image or reputation of GNM, the Website, the App, the Newspapers and/or the Magazines.
10. To the extent that GNM sets cookies on behalf of the Advertiser on the devices of users of the Advertiser’s Site(s) or uses any other data collecting technology (such as pixels, tags, javascript, or other code, including the tags of third party service providers) on behalf of the Advertiser for the purpose of tracking impressions and related data (“Advertiser Data”), Advertiser shall ensure that it has a lawful basis for the use of such data collecting technology, the collection of Advertiser Data from visitors to the Advertiser’s Site(s) and, if applicable to Advertiser and subject always to clause F(5), shall have obtained valid consents for the combining and matching of data from different sources for the purpose of analysing and measuring the effectiveness of the Campaign. Advertiser shall also ensure that the Advertiser and the Advertiser’s .Site comply with all applicable data protection and/or privacy laws, regulations and codes of practice, including by informing data subjects (as defined in applicable data protection and privacy laws) of any processing by Advertiser and obtaining consents as necessary.
11. GNM and its service providers will only use any Advertiser Data solely in relation to the Advertiser’s particular advertising Campaign for which that Advertiser Data was collected. The intellectual property rights in the Advertiser Data collected by GNM will be owned by GNM and GNM shall be free to use such Advertiser Data at its sole discretion subject to the remainder of this clause. However, all Advertiser Data collected by GNM will be treated as the confidential information of the Advertiser and will not be disclosed by GNM to any third party (other than to GNM’s service providers, for the purpose of GNM complying with its obligations under these Terms, and as GNM may be required by law or any regulatory authority) without the consent of the Advertiser. In no event will any Advertiser Data be combined with information collected from other sources, except where the Advertiser has agreed otherwise.
E. Brand Safety
For more information about GNM’s brand safety measures, please consult GNM’s Brand Safety Policy, which can be found here.
F. Cookie usage on theguardian.com
1. GNM reserves the right to scan Advertisements to ensure Advertiser’s compliance with clauses F(2) – F(7).
2. An Advertiser is only permitted to drop cookies on users’ computers and other devices and to use pixels, web beacons or other data collecting technology (the “Data Collecting Technology”) to:
i. display or provide advertising on the Website and/or the App; and
ii. track impressions, analytics, measurement and verification of the Campaigns (together, “Analytics Data”).
The Advertiser can only drop cookies in this way if the Advertiser: (i) notifies GNM in advance of booking an Advertisement; (ii) provides all information requested by GNM regarding such Data Collecting Technology; and (iii) obtains GNM’s prior agreement.
3. If GNM agrees to the Advertiser’s disclosed use of Data Collecting Technology to collect Analytics Data, GNM will provide written authorisation to the Advertiser. Subject to the foregoing, Advertiser agrees to use such Data Collecting Technology and all data collected from it (including the Analytics Data) solely in the manner disclosed to GNM and described in these Terms.
4. All Analytics Data collected by the Advertiser through such Data Collecting Technology will be confidential information owned by GNM and will not be disclosed by the Advertiser to any third party without GNM’s prior written consent. All intellectual property rights in the Analytics Data will be owned by GNM, and to the extent it does not vest with GNM on creation, then the Advertiser herby assigns such intellectual property rights to GNM.
5. In no event shall any Data Collecting Technology or the data collected from it: (i) be used by the Advertiser for the purposes of profiling users’ interests, segmentation, or tracking or targeting users when they leave the Website and/or the App; or (ii) be combined with information collected from other sources; in each case except where GNM has given prior agreement in writing.
6. The Advertiser shall procure that all other persons in the supply chain with which Advertiser works or contracts in relation to an Advertisement (collectively, the “Advertiser Partners”) shall comply with these Terms. The Advertiser will be liable in full for all acts and omissions of the Advertiser Partners.
7. The Advertiser shall ensure it complies with all applicable laws and regulations with respect to such Data Collecting Technology and that all Analytics Data will be deleted from its servers upon the end of the relationship between GNM and the Advertiser.
G. Inserts
1. Occasionally, GNM cannot distribute the number of Inserts agreed with the Advertiser on a specific day due to changes in the print run, production, editorial schedules or for reasons outside of GNM’s reasonable control or where the Inserts are incompatible with its editorial or news reporting. Where this happens, GNM will distribute all ‘overs’ at the next suitable opportunity as the Advertiser’s sole remedy. The Advertiser will remain liable for the full cost of the Insert order.
2. In no event will GNM be liable for any loss or liability howsoever arising from a failure to distribute the number of Inserts agreed with the Advertiser or any errors in the insertion of Inserts (unless such failure or errors are directly caused by GNM’s negligence/error).
H. Liability of GNM
1. GNM accepts no responsibility or liability for:
i. any interruption or delay the Advertiser experiences in delivering any Advertisement copy to GNM;
ii. any loss or damage to any Advertisement copy or any other materials (except where the loss or damage is caused directly by GNM’s negligence); or
iii. any failure by GNM to perform its obligations which are dependent on the Advertiser fulfilling its obligations where the Advertiser has failed to do so.
The Advertiser guarantees that it has retained sufficient quality and quantity of all materials supplied to GNM.
2. GNM shall use its reasonable endeavours to reproduce Advertisements as provided by the Advertiser but cannot guarantee that the Advertisement will be of the same quality or error free.
3. GNM will not be responsible for any additions to, changes in, deletions from, delays in publication or withdrawal of any Advertisements required by any authority having responsibility for the regulation of online or press advertising (including the Advertising Standards Authority).
4. GNM cannot guarantee the time, dates and/or position of Advertisements and all such decisions will be at the sole discretion of GNM. However, GNM will use reasonable efforts to comply with the wishes of the Advertiser in relation to time, dates and/or position of Advertisements.
5. GNM cannot guarantee the number of impressions, the response or take up to any particular Advertisement.
6. If a booked Advertisement is not published at all, solely due to a mistake on GNM’s part, GNM will try to offer an alternative publication date(s). If the alternative date(s) is not accepted by the Advertiser acting reasonably, the original booking will be cancelled and the Advertiser shall be entitled to a full refund of any fees paid in advance for the Advertisement. This shall be the Advertiser’s sole remedy for GNM’s failure to publish the advertisement.
7. GNM shall not be responsible, under any circumstances and in any way, howsoever arising, for (i) any loss of profit, loss of opportunity, loss of goodwill, loss of anticipated saving, loss of contracts, loss of revenue, loss or damage to reputation, loss of information or data; and (ii) any indirect or consequential loss which happens as a side effect of the main loss suffered by the Advertiser or any loss which could not be contemplated by GNM and the Advertiser.
8. GNM’s maximum total liability for any liability, loss or damage arising under or in connection with these Terms and/or any Advertisement, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, shall not exceed the total amount of the charges actually paid by or on behalf of the Advertiser for the relevant Advertisement giving rise to the liability, loss or damage.
9. In respect of Advertisements on the Website and the App, GNM does not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted access by users of the Website and the App but will use reasonable efforts to provide this.
10. GNM will not be liable for any failure or delay to comply with its obligations in these Terms (including any failure or delay to publish the Advertisements), where such failure or delay is caused by something outside of GNM’s control, including weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, accidents, epidemics, pandemics, power outage or interconnectivity problems, ransomware attack, computer virus, cyber-attack, cyber-crime or any other form of attack on GNM’s systems, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure.
11. All conditions, representations, warranties or other terms which might have effect between GNM and the Advertiser or be implied or incorporated into these Terms are, to the fullest extent permitted by law, hereby excluded.
12. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these Terms will limit or exclude GNM’s responsibility for death or personal injury resulting from its own negligence, fraud or any other liability that cannot be excluded.
I. Liability of the Advertiser
The Advertiser will fully indemnify GNM from and against all investigations, claims, fines, losses, damages, costs (including reasonable legal fees) expenses and liabilities arising as a result of any breach or failure to comply with any of these Terms by the Advertiser and/or the use or publication of the Advertisement by GNM in accordance with these Terms.
J. Rights
1. GNM owns the copyright in all Advertisements written or designed by it or on its behalf. All intellectual property rights in the Newspapers, Magazines, Website and the App are owned by GNM or its licensors.
2. The Advertiser hereby grants GNM a non-exclusive, sublicenseable, irrevocable, royalty free licence to reproduce, display, transmit, perform, play, show, communicate to the public and/or otherwise use the Advertisement and the Advertiser’s name, trademarks and logos:
a. for the purpose of delivering the Campaign; and
b. after the end of the Campaign for GNM’s own promotional purposes.
3. For the avoidance of doubt, the content, layout, specifications and format of any part of the Website, the App, the Newspaper and/or the Magazine will, in each case, be subject to determination and variation at GNM’s sole discretion.
K. Termination and early cancellation
1. These Terms shall automatically expire, without the need for any notice, on the last date of an Advertisement Campaign.
2. GNM will not be obliged to stop, cancel or withdraw any Advertisement unless notice in writing is received by GNM within the relevant cancellation period. In respect of all Advertisements, the notice period for cancellation by the Advertiser is a minimum of 30 days prior to the Delivery Deadline. Please send notice of your intention to cancel to the person who made your booking. Cancellation will only be effective on confirmation of receipt of your notice.
3. Where the Advertiser cancels an Advertisement within the cancellation period in section K(3) and cancellation is confirmed by GNM, GNM will refund the Advertiser in full any sums paid by the Advertiser in advance for that particular cancelled Advertisement less GNM’s costs incurred up until cancellation.
4. GNM may treat the Campaign as cancelled if the Advertiser:
a. is in material breach of these terms;
b. is insolvent;
c. ceases or threatens to cease to trade; or
d. has a receiver, administrator or similar appointed.
5. GNM may at any time cancel the delivery of a Campaign by providing at least 7 days’ prior notice to the Advertiser. If GNM cancels the delivery of an Advertisement in accordance with this clause:
a. GNM will work with the Advertiser to rebook the Campaign; and
b. if GNM and the Advertiser cannot agree on the rebooking of the Campaign, GNM will refund the Advertiser in full any sums paid by the Advertiser in advance for the cancelled Advertisement less GNM’s costs incurred up until cancellation.
6. Any part of these Terms that expressly or by implication is intended to come into or continue in force on or after any cancellation of an Advertisement or termination of these Terms, including clauses C, D(11), F(4), F(5), F(7), H, I, J(2), K(6), L and M, shall remain in full force and effect.
L. Notices
1. The Advertiser will contact GNM by first contacting the Advertiser’s sales contact. If the sales contact is unable to resolve the query, the Advertiser will contact GNM by emailing advertising.enquiries@theguardian.com.
2. GNM will contact the Advertiser by email using the contact details provided by the Advertiser.
3. Any email sent by GNM or the Advertiser is deemed received at the time of transmission or, if this time falls outside business hours, when business hours resume. “Business hours” means 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday on a day that is not a public holiday in the UK.
M. General
1. A person who is not a party to these Terms has no rights to rely upon or enforce any of these Terms.
2. If GNM fails or delays in exercising its rights or remedies provided by these Terms, it shall not be deemed to have waived that or any other right or remedy under these Terms. A waiver of any right or remedy is only effective if given in writing and shall not be deemed a waiver of any subsequent right or remedy.
3. If any provision or part-provision of these Terms is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent possible so as to be enforceable, but that shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the rest of these Terms.
4. Nothing in these Terms shall be deemed to constitute a relationship of principal and agent, a partnership, joint-venture, or co-ownership. Neither party shall have the authority to act for, bind or otherwise create or assume any obligation on behalf of the other, and neither party shall hold itself out as having authority to do the same.
5. Once these Terms take effect in accordance with clause A(5), no modification to these Terms will be effective unless made in writing and signed by both GNM and the Advertiser.
6. These Terms, and the documents referenced within these Terms, are the entire agreement between the Advertiser and GNM in respect of the Advertisements. These Terms and any documents referred to herein shall apply to the exclusion of all other terms and conditions which the Advertiser purports to apply to the purchase of Advertisements (including, without limitation, terms in any insertion or purchase order, e-mail, acknowledgement or click through agreement).
7. If there is any conflict between these Terms and the documents referred to within these Terms, these Terms will prevail.
8. These Terms are personal to the Advertiser and the Advertiser shall not assign, transfer, subcontract or otherwise deal in any other manner with any of its rights and obligations under these Terms.
9. Advertiser shall not issue any press releases, publicity, or make any other announcement or disclosure regarding these Terms or the nature or existence of the relationship with GNM without the prior written consent of GNM in each case.
10. GNM and Advertiser shall each keep confidential any confidential information concerning the business, assets, affairs, customers, clients or suppliers of the other.
11. These Terms (and any non-contractual obligations arising in connection with them) shall be governed by English law and the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to these Terms (and any non-contractual obligations arising in connection with them).
Terms last updated: 31 January 2024