Moat Supports IAB Open-Source Initiative

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Moat, a SaaS analytics and measurement company focused on delivering products for marketers and publishers, is proud to join the new IAB Tech Lab Coalition for Open Measurement, based on fundamental principles for mobile in-app measurement.

The Moat Mobile SDK will be fully backwards-compatible with the forthcoming open-source standards, and therefore all publishers and mobile platforms that have integrated Moat will already be covered under the open-source project. Through a data transfer layer and appropriate publisher and advertiser permission, other vendors will be able to receive the core "on-screen signal" they need from whichever vendor's open-source code is running within a given app and is subject to adequate testing and controls.

As mobile apps gain an increasing share of time spent and advertising revenue, marketers and publishers recognize that independent, accredited third-party measurement is imperative to provide trustworthy attention metrics to all market participants. To satisfy this requirement, many publishers have implemented multiple measurement SDKs, significantly increasing costs and straining development resources. To avoid this unnecessary duplication and streamline the introduction of measurement, the coalition is working to formulate an open-source standard for core in-app SDK on-screen detection for certain mobile ad formats.

The new coalition represents an industry effort to standardize a basic "on-screen signal" for a limited subset of mobile ads. Moat's participation in this project is an important step in achieving consistent measurement across the industry.

As the first company to be accredited by the Media Rating Council for mobile in-app measurement of viewable impressions, Moat additionally commits to leveraging its extensive experience in viewability and invalid traffic detection to ensure that the coalition's core SDK code does not expose sensitive data or reveal detection techniques to bad actors.

In joining the coalition, Moat emphasizes fundamental features that must accompany any SDK implementation, encompassing not only the open-source "on-screen signal" component, but also support for:

• An end-to-end measurement solution for in-app publishers that requires only a single SDK implementation
• Comprehensive measurement of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT)
• Native ad formats and custom ad serving methods (including server-side stitching, pre-fetching, and pre-rendering)
• Geographic and people-based measurement
• Automated and unit testing by publishers and third parties
• Custom attention metrics and currencies such as the Moat Video Score

Brands do not consider mobile apps to be fully measurable if the SDK they integrate exposes only a basic "on-screen signal" without the inclusion of comprehensive SIVT measurement and needed additional metrics. Similarly, publishers must not be expected to devote scarce engineering resources to implementing separate SDK integrations purely for "on-screen signals" that do not include the SIVT and other metrics coverage brands require.

"We're pleased to support efforts by Moat and the broader IAB Tech Lab Coalition for Open Measurement in forging a consensus in mobile app measurement that supports the particularities of individual publishers and environments, including the native ad units that are key to Pandora's business," said Chris Record, Vice President of Revenue Operations at Pandora. "We look forward to working together with Moat to strengthen the open-source code and enable a smooth implementation process for in-app measurement at scale, while providing us the flexibility to work with any marketer client via signals originating from the Moat SDK."

"Proper in-app measurement must include a focus on the user and the user experience. By embracing the open source initiative and helping reduce the need to integrate multiple SDKs, Moat is sending a clear message that they will continue to innovate in order to ensure the best user experience and the right measurement," said Nicole McCormack, SVP of Revenue Strategy & Operations at Flipboard.

"We're excited that Moat is joining the IAB Tech Lab Coalition for Open Measurement. It not only strengthens our partnership, but strengthens our collective ability to bring about trust in the underlying soundness of the open-source code. This will ultimately enable MoPub and Moat to provide measurable and viewable in-app inventory at scale, and for our publishers to work with the brand client of their choice," said Boris Logvinskiy, Head of Product, MoPub.

"We're excited to participate in the IAB Tech Lab Coalition for Open Measurement," said Jonah Goodhart, CEO and Co-Founder of Moat. "We've invested a lot of time and effort into making in-app measurement as streamlined and efficient as possible for our partners. As part of the coalition, we're looking forward to continuing these efforts on behalf of our clients to ensure that the open-source core is complemented by a robust, world-class measurement and invalid traffic detection suite that satisfies the needs of the industry."

About Moat
Moat is a New York-based SaaS analytics company focused on building products for brand advertisers and premium publishers. Their offerings include Moat Analytics, an attention measurement platform that provides analytics and insights on ad campaigns and website inventory for publishers and advertisers, and Moat Pro, a real-time ad intelligence platform for marketers, publishers, and agencies. Moat is the first company to be accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) to measure viewable ad impressions across online display, video, and mobile (web and in-app). The company was founded by Jonah Goodhart, Noah Goodhart and Michael Walrath. The serial entrepreneurs had previously partnered to launch Right Media, which was acquired by Yahoo! in 2007. For more information on Moat, please visit http://www.moat.com.

Moat press inquiries contact: [email protected]

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