The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today announced the creation of a standard methodology and corresponding key metrics for measuring mobile Web ads. The joint effort from both industry groups marks the first attempt at standardizing the process.
Created with assistance from the Media Rating Council (MRC), the “Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines,” as they’re being called, 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 objectives of the new 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
“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.”
