NEW YORK ? A Media Rating Council executive at the 2015 Mobile: IAB Marketplace discussed the organization?s goals for setting standards for mobile viewability, and the indication that mobile may overtake digital in the near future, which is a significant statement for marketers.

During the ?Mobile Measurement: Can Mobile Success Ever Really Be Measured?? session, the MRC executive, alongside Medialets? chief operating officer, revealed that standardizing the technology may take a while, although it is currently the MRC?s top priority. Millions of impressions will need to be studied to accurately assess viewability for campaigns and fully understand how users interact with their mobile devices.

?Mobile is highly critical at this moment, and ongoing,? said George Ivie, chief executive officer and executive director of Media Rating Council, New York. ?There?s so much work to do in this area.

?One of our primary objectives is to bring mobile into the environment of the IAB?S 3MS initiative.?

Multi-stage process
As mobile is arguably one of the most important mediums for publishers and advertisers nowadays, the Media Rating Council is placing heavy focus on it, especially as it begins to eclipse digital platforms.

?Mobile is overtaking digital very quickly nowadays, and some would say it?s on track to overtake digital,? said Richy Glassberg, chief operating officer of Medialets, New York.

Marketers are already seeking to trade on campaigns with viewability and audience-based currency, resulting in the strong push for mobile viewability standardization. However, the technology has not yet caught up to the situation, which means the Media Rating Council must work to fill the gap quickly.

?Viewability is the first stage in a multi-stage process that 3MS has lain out,? Mr. Ivie said. ?We want to make ads viewable of all types.

?We also want to focus on engagement metrics that are important to marketers. When you?re dealing with mobile, it?s a very different environment.?

However, Mr. Ivie does not believe that process will take as long as it did from start to finish for desktop. Standardizing the technology will be critical, followed by the second stage of understanding how users interact with devices.

Mobile viewability accreditation
Another challenge for the Council is accreditation for mobile viewability, especially as there are many vendors permeating the space.

?There?s nobody accredited for mobile viewability,? Mr. Ivie said. ?However, there are people that are aspiring to be accredited for mobile viewability.?

He revealed that more people are showing the Media Rating Council their technology, which enables the organization to get on the inside and learn in that manner. All data given to it is held to high secrecy standards

?We conducted pilot testing with real live ads out in the wild to see how people interacted with them,? Mr. Ivie said. ?Everything that comes into the MRC is never attributed to a third party or anyone else.?

He admitted that the MRC does have many people coming to offer assistance, such as Facebook and Google. The Council will also test on its own and reach out to media and agencies.

?This is a powerful medium,? Mr. Ivie said. ?We?re going to try our best to do some standards that don?t hurt anything.

?We learned a lot by doing desktop,? he said. ?We learned to educate and communicate better.

He also called for more vendors, agencies and brands to participate in the Council?s goals.

?If you think about desktop Web pages, they haven?t changed much,? Mr. Ivie said. ?If you think about all the different variations of apps and mobile utility coming at consumers, that?s extremely dynamic.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York