MobileAds.com on Tuesday announced a partnership with Smaato that will give marketers a cloud-based way to create interactive rich media mobile banner ads in HTML5. Through the partnership, marketers can then deliver those ads via Smaato’s mobile real-time bidding (RTB) exchange, which boasts a large pool of mobile ad inventory. "Rich media mobile advertising is expensive and is reserved for big budget advertisers," said Alvin Koay, MobileAds' CEO and founder, via email. But this offering is meant for small business -- “Mom & Pop shops,” as Koay put it -- with the hopes of “leveling the playing field.” When a rich media mobile banner ad created with MobileAds is clicked, the user stays within the app or mobile Website they are currently on. Instead of redirecting users to a different mobile Website, an overlay site is formed. MobileAds says this differentiates them from similar offerings and is meant to be less disruptive to the user experience. The tool is free to use and can be white-labeled for ad networks, demand-side platforms (DSPs), agencies or publishers, per the release. It also works for other formats, such as native ads in apps and social media posts.