This is part 2 of a 2 part series on OpenX at MWC17.
After a week spent navigating through the madness that is Mobile World Congress — recovering from days spent balancing client meetings and exploring the latest in mobile technology — one thing is clear: If you’re not mobile-first (or at least investing in it), you’re last.
Among attendees in the ad industry specifically, conversations centered less around moving to mobile and more on how to make mobile ads better. From re-defining ad formats to helping brands deliver unique experiences, the opportunity to enhance the mobile environment for users is vast and exciting.
Banner ads as an established format reach enormous scale, but now that massive mobile audiences are here to stay, the industry must develop formats specifically for the medium. For now, app developers and publishers have a more sophisticated understanding about what works and what doesn’t as it is easier for them to implement new formats than it is for advertisers to transform existing ad creatives to a new environment.
Maggie Mesa, our VP of mobile business development, spoke with Mobile Marketing Magazine this week on how rethinking mobile video is a prime example of how we can do better as an industry.
Thirty second TV ads don’t work in the mobile environment where the ad may often be longer than the short form content. The industry needs to refresh its approach to video ad formats – whether that be something like shortening ads to 5 or 6 seconds, or incorporating vertical video formats. We’ve already seen positive responses to recent innovations, such as rewardable video.
While mobile video, and a few other topics, like in-feed units and content syndication, captured significant attention throughout the ad tech community, most of the buzz beyond the world of advertising focused on the forthcoming reality of autonomous cars and equally exciting advancements in mobile device technology – specifically the introduction of phones with ultra HD screens.
Winding down from a busy few days, the end of the week presented the opportunity to enjoy some of Barcelona’s trademark experiences. The OpenX happy hour brought together app developers, tech partners, OpenX’ers (and some amazing OpenX alumni) to network and enjoy a few Damm Estrellas — the local brew — before closing the book on MWC 2017 and heading our separate ways.