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MRAID Storms Mobile Standards Scene

IAB Releases Newest Set of Standards for Mobile Advertising

Hot off the presses, today the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released its latest set of standards: Mobile Rich-media Ad Interface Definitions (MRAID) 1.0.

You may wonder, do we really need more standards?

In a word: yes.  If ever the over-used term “wild wild west” was appropriate, it’s for the mobile space.  Countless different platforms, technologies, applications, and environments make it very challenging for advertisers and agencies to achieve real scale with a single buy.  Combine this with those same platforms, technologies, applications, and environments making it just as challenging to run a single piece of creative across that buy, and mobile growth hits major road blocks.

Enter MRAID.

The document released outlines a standard interface specification for mobile rich media ads.  Put another way, it suggests a specific way to design and code mobile rich media creative such that it can then run freely across these disparate platforms, technologies, applications, and environments.  This leads to lower creative costs, greater operational efficiency, and more advertising dollars allocated to mobile formats.

Why does FreeWheel care about this?

Given that our customers are the largest entertainment companies, many of whom are releasing TV Everywhere solutions intended to allow consumers to watch TV content (and ads) on their favorite mobile devices, we care a whole lot.  We want the operations of advertising in mobile environments to be as friction-free as possible – so that advertisers and agencies can spend more, operations teams can better manage the campaigns, and the space can continue to scale.  We have worked closely with the IAB in the past months to help create this standard, and we’re proud of the outcome.

Want to read more?  

Visit the IAB website.

JoAnna Abel - VP, Marketing

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