IAB and Mobile Marketing Association Establish Standard Methodology for Measuring Mobile Web Ads

Organizations Publish First-Ever “Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines”

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.--()--For the first time, standardized key metrics for measuring advertisements have been established for the mobile interactive industry. Developed in a joint effort by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and with the assistance of the Media Rating Council (MRC), the “Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines” provide a framework to govern how ad impressions are counted on the mobile Web.

A joint task force, comprised of members of the IAB’s Mobile Advertising Committee and the MMA’s Measurement Committee, met for more than a year to develop these guidelines, which specifically cover WAP/Mobile Web advertising.

“The ‘Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines’ will help marketers accurately assess the delivery of ads within mobile websites and offer a clear way to count ad impressions, assuring them that their advertising messages are reaching mobile consumers,” said Anna Bager, Vice President and General Manager of the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence.

“More than anything, the guidelines demonstrate the mobile industry’s commitment to its marketing partners to create a transparent and consistent business environment for buying and selling ads,” said Greg Stuart, President and CEO, MMA. “Brands and their agencies will be further encouraged to devote resources towards marketing campaigns unique to the mobile web- reaching customers at critical times in the purchase cycle, enhancing brand relationships or providing critical information through mobile marketing.”

“The IAB and MMA are to be applauded for recognizing that the creation of measurement guidelines for all marketing platforms eliminates a huge barrier to entry for advertisers and opens the market for enormous opportunity and innovation,” said George Ivie, CEO, MRC. “We were pleased to facilitate writing this new set of guidelines.”

The objectives of the “Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines” include:

  • Defining the mobile web ad impression
  • Creating a common methodology that will be widely adopted in the U.S. and globally for counting mobile web ad impressions
  • Encouraging U.S. mobile web ad servers to have their impression counts audited by an independent third party
  • Providing marketers and agencies with greater clarity and certainty (via the auditing process) that key metrics used for buying mobile web ads are methodologically sound and meet the highest standards available to the media industry
  • Reducing levels of discrepancies and spurring the industry’s growth by offering Internet publishers and ad servers a consistent, rigorous way to count the delivery of ad impressions

The IAB’s Mobile Advertising Committee is comprised of over 140 member companies who are dedicated to developing and expanding the mobile space as a viable advertising platform. This committee now sits under the newly created IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, a new unit within the organization that will serve as an industry-wide resource for innovation in mobile advertising.

The MMA’s Measurement Committee is comprised of MMA member companies. The Measurement Committee’s charter is to provide global leadership in the following areas: (1) Advertising Currency Definition & Quantification, (2) Mobile success definition as part of cross media marketing mix, and (3) White Paper/Education on importance of measurement to brand marketer engagement of the mobile channel.

The Mobile Web Advertising Guidelines are available here: http://www.iab.net/mobilewebmeasurementguidelines and http://mmaglobal.com/MobileWebMeasurementGuidelines_final.pdf.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who 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.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. The more than 700 member companies, representing over forty countries around the globe, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association’s headquarters are located in the United States and it has regional chapters including North America (NA), Europe (EUR), Latin America (LATAM), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com.

About the Media Rating Council (MRC)

The MRC is a non-profit Industry association established in 1964 composed of leading television, radio, print and internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 60 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.

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Contacts

For the IAB
Marnie Black, 917-828-7308
marnie@iab.net
or
For the MMA
Global Results Comm. (GRC)
Valerie Christopherson, +1 949-608-0276
mma@globalresultspr.com

Contacts

For the IAB
Marnie Black, 917-828-7308
marnie@iab.net
or
For the MMA
Global Results Comm. (GRC)
Valerie Christopherson, +1 949-608-0276
mma@globalresultspr.com