IAB, MMA, and MRC Set New Standard for Quality Ad Metrics With Revised Mobile Guidelines

• Tweet
• Buffer

Last week the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), and Media Ratings Council (MRC) finalized their measurement guidelines for Mobile Application and Mobile Web advertising. The guidelines are meant to provide a benchmark for mobile advertising in order to deliver high-quality data to ad buyers.

The new framework will address the quality of impression counts and buyer transparency across applications and hopes to set a higher standard for quality ad metrics across the industry.

The new guidelines were drafted by the MRC, with additional input from IAB and MMA members. The hope is that the updated guidelines will fight inaccuracies that could slow down the growth of the mobile channel.

"Finalizing these guidelines is the culmination of a tremendous amount of effort and input from the industry leaders who are incredibly passionate about bringing a higher level of standardization and accountability to mobile advertising," said Richy Glassberg, COO, Medialets, who is also a member of both the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence and the MMA, in the press release.

The Mobile Web guidelines didn't need much change to the final version, but input from public comments warranted some revisions to the Mobile App guidelines, which included: "a clearer mandate that only client-side counting is allowed for mobile application ad impressions; a requirement that SDKs that handle ad loading ensure that impression counting does not happen prematurely; and a clear end-date requirement for reporting/counting ad impressions delivered/viewed while the app is offline."

"With ad technologies developing at an accelerated pace, measurement of advertising in the mobile environment has been challenged," said George W. Ivie, executive director and CEO at the MRC, in the press release. "Now that there is clear and specific industry measurement guidance in place, both buyers and sellers of mobile advertising will have enhanced confidence that the performance and effectiveness of campaigns can be consistently and accurately measured, which will lead to greater accountability and increased investment by marketers in the mobile space."

Image on home page via Shutterstock.