• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, November 30, 2016

The IAB Technology Laboratory on Wednesday released  an update to the Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definition (MRAID) for public comment. The revised MRAID 3.0 offers technical guidance for an improved user experience, faster ad rendering, viewability measurement, and Video Player Ad Interface Definition (VPAID) integration, among other advances.

The update was developed by members of the MRAID Working Group, and marks the first major overhaul to MRAID in more than four years. The update is said to advance the specs, but also makes them more developer-friendly.

MRAID 3.0 introduces several new features, including:

--Guidance on pre-loading ads and ensuring ads are shown to the user only when they are ready for display.

--Viewability measurement by the viewable percentage of an ad, as well as clearer tracking on the presence of an ad.

--Full integration with VPAID to permit video measurement within mobile ads leveraging MRAID.

--Ability to discover whether access to device location is enabled, while further providing information about the location.

--Audibility measurement to inform the ad if device audio is enabled and at what volume level.

--Identification of relevant attributes that indicate whether an ad is running in MRAID-compliant Web view at initialization time, while eliminating ambiguous interpretations.

“In today’s mobile-centric world, guidelines that allow for interoperability are imperative,” stated Alanna Gombert, senior vice president, technology and ad operations, IAB, and general manager, IAB Tech Lab. “These revised guidelines will further enhance and improve the rich mobile ad experience for consumers, while also improving ad effectiveness for advertisers and publishers.”

A public comment period will run through Jan. 30,  after which the MRAID Working Group will evaluate the comments and incorporate feedback. To review MRAID 3.0, please go to iab.com/mraid.