Finally, a human ad experience in-app

The Coalition for Better Ads released new ad standards for mobile app environments last week, here’s everything you need to know. 

For years, the Coalition for Better Ads has had standards for mobile web, desktop, and short-form video. These standards serve to put an end to intrusive advertising experiences and deter consumers from downloading and using ad blockers. They have been widely adopted across the industry, and we’ve therefore seen a much needed cleaning up of the types of ad formats that are deployed. But, we still have a ways to go IMO. Mobile often gets a bad rap for its ad experiences, but have you read an article on a desktop recently?? They are still crawling with pop ups that cover content, push downs that take up way too much real estate, etc. And, I won't name any names, but some of our advertising trade pubs are the worst offenders. The irony!  

Anyways, here are the in-app ad formats that have been deemed the least preferred ad experiences for consumers:

• Interruptive interstitials: ads that show up unexpectedly after people have chosen to take an action like start a video or a game within an app. Interstitials that show up at the end of a game or content segment are allowed. So are ones that appear when an app is opened [hmm 🤔]
• Interruptive video interstitials: video ads that show up unexpectedly after people have chosen to take an action like play a game within an app. Video interstitials that show up at the end of a game or content segment, or when opening an app are allowed.
• Non-skippable interruptive video interstitials: a full screen video ad that appears when someone is in the middle of doing something else and they cannot skip or dismiss the ad.
• Video interstitials when opening an app: a video ad that appears after the app icon has been selected but before the splash screen or home screen appears. Static interstitials that appear before the splash screen are ok though [again, hmm 🤔]
   

Ad blockers are on the decline, and with the cookieless web approaching, investing in creative is more important than ever. Now is the time to leverage innovations in technology to deliver non-intrusive ad formats across all digital channels, because it's better for the consumer and it works. PadSquad began as a company who wanted to improve mobile browsing experiences, and today we’ve doubled down on that same concept by crafting advertising that's designed for and by humans. Our award-winning creative team delivers innovative rich media and HTML5 designs that never cover content or hide the “X” button from you. The best part,  it works. 

Let’s get creative. If you want more of my takes in your inbox weekly, sign up for my newsletter here.