• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, May 12, 2015

Millennial Media, a mobile programmatic exchange, on Tuesday announced it has partnered with viewability ad measurement firm Integral Ad Science and will guarantee its clients full viewability on mobile in-app ad campaigns.

The company says it will deliver a clients’ in-app campaign until it has achieved complete delivery with viewable impressions, and Integral will certify delivery. If an ad is not deemed viewable, explained Andrew Bradway, senior director of business development Millennial, the advertiser will not be charged.

“The mobile ad ecosystem is desperately seeking guidelines around viewability," asserted Michael Barrett, president & CEO at Millennial Media and IAB board member, in a prepared statement. The mobile ad industry finally got some guidance on viewability earlier this month, when the Media Rating Council (MRC) issued interim guidance on mobile viewability for the first time.

Now Millennial is acting on that guidance and making viewability a more important part of its mobile ad business -- it would not be surprising to see others follow suit.

“We're working very closely with Integral Ad Science and our partners to fulfill guarantees against viewable impressions,” Bradway said to Real-Time Daily. “Based on the interim guidance released by the MRC on May 4, they define a mobile ad as viewable if a minimum of 50% of the pixels are in-view for at least one second. This guidance applies to mobile ads served in a web browser or in-app. Millennial Media’s 100% viewability guarantee exceeds the minimum standard set by the MRC by delivering ads only on placements confirmed to be 100% in-view.

“The MRC's early guidance with in-app inventory was based on the assumption that everything was 100% viewable,” Bradway added. “We know that is incorrect.”

Mobile ads do have a better shot at being viewable than desktop ads, however, if a recent Google report on video viewability is any indication. Google notes that just over half (54%) of video advertisements across the Web (excluding YouTube) were viewable in April 2015, but viewability on the mobile and tablet Web (excluding apps and YouTube) were at 83% and 81% last month, respectively.

Millennial’s push to offer fully in-view, in-app mobile ads has been welcomed by many across the industry, with support being given in a statement by IPG Mediabrands, MEC, Initiative, Telefonica UK and others.

"In-app viewability has been a challenge and we're excited to be part of Millennial Media's efforts to develop measurement and metrics in this space,” stated Mitch Weinstein SVP, director of ad operations at IPG Mediabrands. “This is an important step toward full viewability in our industry."