Mobile Partners to Provide Data-Based Best Practices for In-App Ad Experiences

AdColony, the leading ad quality video marketplace, has joined the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA) as an Associate Member. As a partner, the company will contribute to the development and implementation of new Coalition standards that enhance the consumer experience, including any future standards for mobile in-app advertising.

Since its inception in 2016, the CBA has successfully identified the four types of desktop web ads and eight types of mobile web ads that rank lowest across a range of user experience factors and that are most highly correlated to the adoption of ad blockers, thus falling below the threshold of consumer acceptability.

Formats such as auto-playing video ads with sound, pop-ups, flashing animated ads, large sticky ads and those take up more than 30 percent of the screen are all considered “least preferred” among consumers.

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As one of the originators of user-initiated video in mobile, in which the consumer chooses to watch a video ad, typically in exchange for some sort of value (i.e., access to gated content, in-app currency), AdColony is supportive of formats that provide the consumer with the most choice and encourage active engagement in a non-intrusive manner.

A user-initiated video is the most accepted ad format across all age groups, with 40 percent of survey respondents finding them to be acceptable advertising, compared to 20 percent acceptability average among all formats (e.g., interstitial, banner, in-feed), according to AdColony research.

Currently, the CBA’s standards around ad environments only pertain to desktop and mobile web, but given that the majority of mobile users are spending much more time in apps than they are on the mobile web, AdColony will be on the forefront of the new standards when the CBA examines and addresses the quality of in-app advertising experiences.

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“User-initiated video is one of the rare mediums where everyone wins; the consumer, publisher, and advertiser all derive tangible value,” said Paul Fields, AdColony’s senior manager of strategic partnerships. “With 98 percent of the views being verified human and overall completion rates hovering around 85 percent, user-initiated video produces remarkable results. We stand strong behind this format and are looking forward to sharing the campaign data that demonstrates its power and efficacy.”

“As one of the very few mobile ad platforms that are part of the Coalition for Better Ads, we are excited to seize the opportunity to craft best practices around in-app advertising experiences, leveraging our own insights and expertise around how to capture consumer attention without interrupting the overall app experience,” said Şekip Can Gökalp, AdColony’s chief operating officer. “We think it’s extremely important that both brands and publishers start leaning more heavily into ad formats that work – and that consumers prefer.”

To date, the Coalition has 51 members, including marquee brands like P&G, Unilever and Microsoft, and agencies such as GroupM, Omnicom Media Group and Publicis Groupe.

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