Updates to ‘Mobile Rich-Media Ad Interface Definitions’ Includes Guidelines to Ease Delivery of Mobile Rising Stars Ad Formats
NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) and its Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence announced the final release of the “Mobile Rich-Media Ad Interface Definitions” or MRAID 2.0, following the requisite comment period. This new version will enable greater consistency when it comes to the delivery of a range of rich media ad formats, including the new IAB Mobile Rising Stars units, allowing agencies to be able to quickly and easily run creative across applications from different publishers, rather than needing to re-write the programming behind their ad creative several times for a single campaign. The combination of common rich media mobile ad formats, and a standardized way to program those ads “under the hood,” will help the industry scale to levels that were previously impossible.
During the MRAID 2.0 comment period, IAB received a substantial number of comments on the draft version of the interface definitions. As a result, the IAB has strengthened and clarified the specifications, which will lead to MRAID 2.0 being implemented with greater consistency across vendors and with greater ease of adoption by agencies.
“With these new specifications, the IAB Mobile Center aims to encourage and facilitate rich media and creative advertising adoption for mobile ad units,” said Joe Laszlo, Senior Director, Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, IAB. “We’re excited to launch the official version of MRAID 2.0 to further advance and create uniformity across the mobile advertising industry.”
MRAID 2.0 offers ad designers three main ways to change the appearance and size of their mobile ad creative:
- Opening an embedded browser window
- Expanding in size (generally to take up the full usable screen of the device)
- Resizing — new in MRAID 2.0 — which refers to changing size in subtle and sophisticated ways, leaving the underlying app visible
Moving forward, the IAB and the MRAID working group will shift their focus to increasing awareness and encouraging adoption of MRAID 2.0. In addition, the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence plans to:
- Host a series of webinars on MRAID 2.0 for a variety of audiences, both technical and non-technical
- Set up an objective-testing regime to verify rich media software vendors’ compliance with MRAID 2.0, thus creating greater transparency
- Work with companies making tools that facilitate rich media ad creation, to ensure that the code they generate is fully MRAID 2.0 compliant
- Collect a library of reference MRAID 2.0 ads to help designers and others better understand how to leverage MRAID 2.0’s capabilities
IAB will also coordinate closely with global IABs to encourage embracement and endorsement of MRAID 2.0 and to support them in helping their members to become compliant.
“Right now, here in Australia and globally, mobile advertising is one of the most exciting and explosive growth sectors in all media and technology,” said Paul Fisher, CEO, IAB Australia. “To scale the opportunity to meet the expected demand, the industry needs standards and guidelines. IAB U.S. is leading the charge with guidelines such as MRAID, and IAB Australia will be one of I’m sure many markets globally that will adopt these standards. We are proud of our membership of the global IAB community and the opportunities that membership offers to leverage IAB initiatives such as MRAID to grow both our local markets and in doing so, contribute to the global growth.”
“Across Finland and Northern Europe there is already great interest in MRAID, especially amongst companies that make technical ad serving solutions to publishers,” said Aki Ovaska, Digital Planner at Activeark JWT Finland and Chairman of IAB Mobile Workgroup Finland. “In fact, one Finnish company, is already fully MRAID compliant and waiting to implement MRAID 2.0 once it’s available. This is definitely something the mobile ad market needs and from what I’ve seen upfront, MRAID 2.0 is more than just a technical framework.”
MRAID 2.0 and the broader mobile internet landscape will be in sharp focus, along with other key topics that impact the digital advertising industry, at the upcoming IAB MIXX Conference & Expo on October 1 and 2. The annual conference, held in New York City, will feature a mainstage session entitled “The Only Way to be Creative Is to be Mobile” with Melanie Varley, Chief Strategy Officer, Global, MEC, and Andy Wasef, Head, Mobile and Emerging Platforms, North America, MEC, in addition to various mobile and multiscreen-centered workshops, and more. To see the entire agenda and register, go to www.iab.net/mixx.
To download the complete MRAID 2.0, please visit www.iab.net/mraid.
About the IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.
