• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, September 16, 2015

Mobile in-app video ad tech provider Vungle on Wednesday launched a private programmatic marketplace that will allow advertisers to reach target audiences in apps.

The twist is that Vungle’s marketplace will feature apps that are peaking in popularity.

“Advertisers miss great opportunities to run video campaigns during an app’s peak popularity, due to a challenging combination of short app life-cycles and long brand planning cycles,” stated Zain Jaffer, CEO and co-founder of Vungle.

Vungle has released two new features -- Vungle Score and Vungle Billboard -- to support this new initiative. The Vungle Score, as its name suggests, gives apps a score based on “real-time app performance data, including reach, volume and conversions,” per Vungle.

The Vungle Billboard is where those scores will be accessible to advertisers. Vungle notes that the billboard automatically adds apps “as they rise in popularity” and “removes apps as their usage dwindles.” Other relevant data about the apps -- such as average age of the user, daily impressions, click-through rates and more -- will also be available via the Billboard, as will Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings data, per a release.

Digital ad agency Essence is among the first to use the new marketplace, billboard and app scores -- the bundle of which Vungle is calling “Vungle Premium.”

The marketplace adds a new dimension to “real-time” advertising. In addition to sending targeted ads via real-time bidding (RTB), Vungle also keeps tabs on the apps themselves in real-time.

“It's important to move with our audience in real time and stay relevant as new apps enter the marketplace,” commented Jolie Giuffre, mobile planning director at Essence, in a prepared statement.