Following OpenX’s successful launch of its School of Programmatic initiative last month (a series of workshops designed to fill the knowledge gaps and supply the skills and know-how to make the most of programmatic), Tuesday [16 February] saw the release of the second workshop, titled 'Programmatic on the Go'. This workshop covers the world of mobile programmatic, including planning for cross-device campaigns, building apps into your media mix, and mobile measurability.

ExchangeWire gained exclusive coverage of the event, which featured a panel of experts across the mobile industry: Jason Cooper, GM mobile, Integral Ad Science; Yoni Argaman, VP marketing & business strategy, Inneractive; Stephanie Emmanouel, general manager, Somo; and Shane Keane, media management EMEA & APAC, Shazam, with the panel moderated by Justin Re, director of mobile, OpenX.

Following a very in-depth discussion about app strategies, ad fraud, and viewability, ExchangeWire outlined the core themes that make up the mobile programmatic landscape, as discussed by the panel.

Mobile Web vs In-App

Justin Re, director of mobile, OpenX, asked where the growth is in mobile web versus in-app. The consensus across the group was that in-app advertising far outweighed advertising on the mobile web; with Yoni Argaman, Inneractive, stating that approximately 92% of their mobile inventory is in-app. Argaman went on to say that, “in-app for advertisers has a lot of benefits; there is a lot more data. Users are more engaged in-app – there is better monetisation, CTRs are higher, eCPMs are higher. All in all, I’m very bullish on in-app advertising”.

Shane Keane, Shazam, stated that as a large producer of impressions, they are very in-app focused and the mobile web constitutes only a small portion of Shazam’s business. “We feel that in-app is the way to go; we can control the experience better. From a publisher perspective, we can also generate better eCPMs and push through additional revenue." However, Keane added that, as opposed to the rest of the panel’s experiences, mobile web is a growing part of Shazam’s business. “In-app is key; but the mobile web is also interesting when we talk cross-device. We need that element to link additional user data points.”

Stephanie Emmanouel, Somo, speaking from her experience on the buy side, was keen to make the distinction between mobile-first advertisers and more traditional advertisers, when it comes to mobile app strategy: “We saw many mobile-first companies investing in-app, such as gaming companies, and it is also becoming more mainstream for other verticals, such as utilities and gambling. In-app can be quite difficult as a strategic consideration for more traditional advertisers.”

Jason Cooper, Integral Ad Science, went on to point out the consideration for brand safety with in-app advertising: “Mobile apps provide a much richer data set, such as location and device IDs, which are really useful for a brand advertiser. On the other side, they are not safe. In display and on the mobile web, you can block a URL; but that feature and level of detail is masked within apps, which makes it more difficult.”

In-App Viewability Challenges

The conversation then shifted to ad formats and viewability. Jason Cooper, Integral Ad Science, highlighted the challenges of pre-caching: “A lot of SDK technologies that are used to monetise and render ads within apps are pre-caching some of the bigger ad formats. It makes complete sense from a user perspective: if you are in the middle of a game, you don’t want to have to wait for the ad to download. Agencies are using traditional tools to monitor campaigns, which can’t measure the state of the ad. The app will pre-cache up to 100 ads and only one or two of them are ever shown; yet the agency ad server is counting all of them as shown and asking why they aren’t in view.”

This brought the conversation round to the topic of ad blocking and the threat that poses to the wider industry. It was discussed how, while it is a huge problem, it’s still very nascent within in-app advertising, but it is growing. As Jason Cooper, Integral Ad Science, pointed out: “Apple shut down their iAd proposition, so now there is no incentive for Apple to prevent ad blocking, as long as security thresholds are met. We are now starting to see much more in-app ad blocking and it’s doing an effective job [for the user].”

Shane Keane agreed that ad blocking still had negligible impact on Shazam’s business; but that it was still a huge threat. If in-app ad blocking became commonplace, it would result in a huge dent to their business. “It would only leave us with homescreen impressions when you scroll – those units have the worst delivery for Shazam.”

Justin Re, OpenX, summarised the challenges being faced with ad blocking: “[The industry] took a desktop ad unit and shoved it on a mobile device and thought that was good enough. But it’s not. We need to be better.” The industry is now being tasked with cleaning up the fall out of a situation that it created by not being thorough enough in the first place. Re went on to say that blocking everything is not the answer, as it will kill all innovation.

Re later talked about how more support and visibility is required for the publishers to be able to understand the true extent of ad blocking. He said that from a mobile web perspective, the browsers need to be addressing the problem, so that it can at least be tracked when an ad is blocked. Re continued that this could make the industry less judgemental about ad blocking.“If we had a standardised form of measurement to let us know exactly which ads were blocked, we would be in a much better position to understand the extent of the problem and how to address it. Right now we are a little in the dark”.

The Fragmentation of Ad Fraud

Justin Re, OpenX, then shifted the conversation towards ad fraud, asking the experts what kind of fraud they were experiencing within their businesses.

Jason Cooper, Integral Ad Science, was keen to differentiate between the perceptions of ad fraud and suspicious activity, referring to the different fraud models that exist online and how they are detected. He said that the majority of fraud can be picked up today by spotting trends and patterns in data and behaviour. “It’s getting better, but it’s such a fragmented environment; that dynamic volatility means that there’s no off-the-shelf solution.”

Stephanie Emmanouel, Somo, referred to the importance of measurement, as things can slip through the net. “You’d be surprised what we see from sequential IDFAs – we look at the time between click and install, and if it is one second, that is unrealistic. Gambling has high pay-outs. We see a lot of manual intervention and we’ve heard of hundreds of people sitting in Southeast Asia, interacting with players on cell phone games to generate more in-app purchases; but the only thing we can do is measure it, control it, flag it and use industry bodies such as the IAB to standardise it."

The panel were all agreed on one thing: no matter which area of the industry you operate in, it is your mutual responsibility to ensure that the future of mobile advertising is safe, transparent and provides an optimal user experience.

The next session at the School of Programmatic – 'Strategies for Success: Supply Side' – will take place on 11 March and will be held at the Hospital Club, Covent Garden, from 8.30am-11am. Attendees will learn how to understand revenue, pricing, and yield optimisation strategies, and how to get to grips with inventory pricing, management, and understanding the value of data.

For more information on future sessions and to register for a place please click here.