The IAB is trying to standardize the way rich media mobile ad units are created and distributed in hopes of bolster in-app advertising and making it as successful as everyone had hoped for in the beginning.
The IAB says the main reason in-app ads are largely failing is because of the many disparate APIs from numerous rich media vendors today, of which most are incompatible with each other. As such, advertisers are forced to re-write the programming behind their ad creative several times for a single campaign. To counteract this, the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence has released “Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions,” or MRAID, for public comment. The paper establishes a common API for mobile rich media advertisements, as well as introducing a framework of principles and guidelines with an eye to consistency in the mobile advertising space.
Under the draft MRAID guidelines, a mobile app that is so-called “MRAID compliant,” will be able to read and display ads developed using the MRAID instruction specification. The deadline for submitting comments is September 30th. After that, the IAB will evaluate the comments received, make any needed changed and release a final version dubbed “MRAID 1.0.” Those interested can view a copy of the public comment version here.