Business and Marketing

In looking to solve complex tech issues, the association opens up full membership to agencies and solutions providers.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau today announced the formation of IAB Technical Laboratories, whose aim is to reduce the costs of digital advertising and marketing by implementing industry standards. The Tech Lab will be governed by a yet-to-be-appointed board of directors and executive committee.

The IAB's goals for the global effort is to save time and money for member companies with a certification program for tech vendors, reduce and streamline compatibility issues, and drive the creation of standards in emerging areas such as video, mobile, and the Internet of Things.

IAB “general members” will automatically gain membership, but the IAB has widened its criteria for general membership to “companies that sell, distribute, or optimize” digital ad and marketing programs. The change will allow agencies and providers of technology solutions to become full voting members.

“This shift in membership structure will give many of the key businesses that facilitate and power the interactive advertising industry an increased role in setting the vision and strategy of the IAB,” said Ziff Davis CEO Vivek Shah, who serves as chairman of the IAB board. “With the growth and increasing complexity of a value chain based as much on transacting data as transacting inventory, many of the initial distinctions between IAB members are no longer relevant.”

Business Breaking News: Google Launches New Mobile Ad Displays

Mobile advertising can mean big business. The problem is that not all mobile devices are built alike. With hundreds of smartphones, tablets and e-readers available — all running on a wide range of operating systems, Internet browsers and screen sizes — mobile-ad displays can be very problematic. Sometimes, mobile ads don't appear correctly. Other times, they don't appear at all. Small businesses can't afford to deal with these nuances. Google aims to change that.

The search and online advertising giant announced today (Sept. 29) that it will roll out new mobile-display-ad formats and tools across the company's advertising properties, specifically the Google Display Network, the AdMob Network and DoubleClick. With this new mobile-advertising system, Google aims to deliver an improved user experience and make it easier for advertisers to launch successful mobile-advertising campaigns regardless of users' devices and screen sizes.

To help advertisers better reach and engage with mobile consumers, Google will offer four types of new ad display formats built specifically for mobile devices: engagement ads, TrueView ads, anchor ad format, and magazine style text ad format. [Google AdWords Secrets: What Works for Small Business]

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