Discover OM SDK: The tool for better in-app viewability & measurement

The breakout and fragmentation of ad viewability technology means that, today, viewability is often measured by multiple independent systems. Furthermore, because these systems are not connected to ad serving technology, app developers are forced to deploy additional code in order to facilitate viewability measurement. 

This is not scalable, nor does it necessarily produce accurate insights as it requires manual integration of siloed data sets. A collaborative solution is required in order to make measurement solutions more effective and simpler to implement. 

The Open Measurement SDK (OM SDK) is a set of software tools designed by IAB Tech Lab to facilitate third-party viewability and verification measurement for ads served in mobile app environments, and it’s being deployed among hundreds of thousands of apps. The tools were made widely available in 2018 and include viewability trackers from multiple vendors in one handy SDK, thereby alleviating many developer pains. Rather than integrate with multiple vendors, developers can now adopt a single standardised SDK, and buyers can finally get a true picture of whether their ads are being seen. 

Additionally, in 2019 IAB Tech Lab launched app-ads.txt – the app equivalent of ads.txt - making the app ecosystem a safer and more transparent place for buyers. While adoption of both these measures was initially slow in app, they’re now gaining traction as awareness grows on both sides of the ecosystem.

OM SDK is particularly important to app developers moving into programmatic, as brands and agencies cite viewability and measurement challenges as a key issue of in-app advertising.  If an app developer overlooks integrating a measurement SDK, then their advertising clients will struggle to accurately measure the app’s ad viewability.  And viewability impacts how campaigns get billed - mainly because advertisers use their programmatic buying platforms to selectively spend on inventory that is highly viewable.  Since its release, OM SDK is the trusted standard for buyers, giving more confidence to buy in-app.  

Some managed in-app header bidding solutions that control creative rendering have the capability to pre-integrate OM SDK (like OpenWrap), which ensures that all display and video impressions served by the SDK are viewability measured. It is important for app developers to look for solutions that have these capabilities. Also, if you’re looking to widely activate brand dollars, it’s important to choose a setup that includes OM SDK support. 

The OM SDK is the catalyst needed to help brands engage with confidence - a simplified route to integrating verified partners frees up both buyers and sellers to move faster, with flexibility and transparency. It also allows us to ensure brand safety, while focusing our efforts on increasing performance and delivering results that drive action.

This SDK collects a common set of data that can determine performance against existing and future standards and, because the data is driven by a single source, discrepancies among publishers, advertisers and vendors will be significantly reduced. Additionally,advertisers can now measure and transact with their preferred vendors and not be forced to disqualify desirable publishers from their media plans. 

What’s great about this project is that measurement vendors, publishers, agencies and advertisers alike are committed to the OM SDK as a vehicle to support all measurement types moving forward, and not just viewability.

We will not go back to a world of numerous, disparate proprietary measurement SDKs that cause friction for the involved parties. This project’s mission is support of all measurement scenarios in this single universal SDK, along with future support on web and other environments.