Media Rating Council Issues Industry Update On Mobile Viewable Impression Measurement

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Media Rating Council (MRC) issued an update on the status of Mobile Viewable Impression Measurement. Since issuing the Interim Guidance on Mobile Viewable Impression Measurement in May 2015, the MRC has led several significant efforts to further the development of the final guidelines. Today's status update can be found here.

Key areas updated include:

• Deepened cross-industry collaboration: The MRC has collaborated with a large working group of interested parties and organizations to obtain data in order to answer questions surrounding viewability requirements applied to mobile environments.
• Eliminated the "Loaded Ad" concept: The MRC has concluded that the "Loaded Ad" metric is no longer necessary for use as a measurement metric. Introduced within the Interim Guidance in May, this metric was designed as a temporary solution that recognized limitations in measurers' capabilities for determining viewable impressions in mobile application environments that existed at that time. Since May, it has become apparent that measurers can now, in fact, successfully measure viewable impressions in mobile within the in-application environment, meaning the "Loaded Ad" concept is now obsolete. No vendors to-date have been accredited by the MRC for a "Loaded Ad" metric, and, effective today, the MRC will no longer consider accreditation of this metric.
• Found additional evidence that "Count on Decision" approaches for served ad impression measurement (in which the count of an ad impression is executed at a relatively early stage of the ad delivery process) should be eliminated as a valid method for counting served impressions: MRC's review of mobile data has shown that mobile ads can take a considerable amount of time to render on users' devices. This reinforces earlier findings from MRC's work on viewability in desktop environments that showed ads take longer to render in today's more complex online environments than they did when the IAB Measurement Guidelines for served impressions – which allowed for Count on Decision-based counting methods – were written a decade ago. Therefore, as previously announced, the MRC will work with the IAB to eliminate Count on Decision as an acceptable method for counting served ad impressions in the near-term future.

The MRC continues to evaluate data to further develop mobile viewability standards and will present preliminary conclusions based on information reviewed to-date later this month to the Mobile Viewability Working Group that was formed for this project. A final mobile viewability guidelines document is expected to be released for public circulation and comment period in Q1 2016.

The Interim Guidance issued in May remains in effect, and follows similar criteria as currently required by the MRC's Viewable Impression Measurement Guidelines to determine viewability in desktop environments. Viewable impression measurement of ads in both mobile web browser and mobile in application environments should follow the existing guidance for viewability in desktop (50 percent of pixels in the viewable space of the browser for a minimum of one second for display and two seconds for video ads).

To view the update on Mobile Viewable Impression Measurement, please visit: http://www.mediaratingcouncil.org/111215_Mobile%20Viewability%20Marketplace%20Update.pdf 
For more information on the MRC and 3MS, please visit http://measurementnow.net/.

About the Media Rating Council (MRC)
The MRC is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 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 other standards MRC produces; 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 110 research products are audited by the MRC.

About Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS)
The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies) launched the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative in 2011, a major collaboration to lead the industry in developing digital metrics and cross platform measurement solutions. The goal of 3MS is to enhance marketing and media management decision-making. The three organizations represent the entire value chain in marketing and advertising and work closely with the MRC to ensure the success of the initiative. The MRC is a non-profit industry association whose goal is to confirm measurement services are valid, reliable and effective. To learn more about the Making Measurement Make Sense initiative, go to http://measurementnow.net.   

SOURCE Media Rating Council (MRC)

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