MRC Revises Mobile and Desktop Measurement Guidelines

In New York, the Media Rating Council (MRC) has released the final version of its Mobile In-App Measurement and Mobile Web Measurement Guidelines. A draft version of the Digital Video Ad equivalent has also been released for comment.

Previewed in a public comment period earlier this year, the finalized Mobile In-App Measurement and Mobile Web Measurement Guidelines were completed in a project led by the MRC, in coordination with the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Technology Laboratory and the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association). The guidelines shift valid ad impression counting to a 'count-on-begin-to-render' minimum, which occurs later in the ad serving process than previous guidelines allowed. Accordingly, references to 'served' impressions have been removed from these updates, which the MRC says aligns it with the counting model in place for viewable impressions.

In conjunction with the updated guidelines, the MRC and IAB Tech Lab have also released an update to the IAB Digital Video Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines for a 30-day public comment period, which ends on November 30th. Guidelines governing measurement of Desktop Display served ad impressions - originally developed as an offshoot of the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative - have also been updated.

MRC plans to allow for a one-year grace period after the final releases of these revised guidelines for accredited measurement services to achieve compliance. After this time, the requirements of these will be considered as MRC accreditation criteria. These guidelines are available for review at www.mediaratingcouncil.org .