Vungle Intros Video Ad Exchange for Apps, Makes TV Ads Mobile

Vungle will soon expand the app advertising it offers by supporting video ads, as well. Vungle is an app monetization platform, and boasts that its technology is used in over 4,000 apps. Starting with select developers, Vungle ad technology will soon support videos streamed form Vungle's new video ad exchange.

While Vungle is limiting use of the ad exchange in the beginning, it says that developers who want to use it can prepare by installing the 3.0 version of the Vungle SDK. The exchange will debut over the coming year and will support a variety of video formats. It will also support VAST (video ad serving template) ads. Vungle promises that publishers won't need to do any client-side work to adapt to new standards.

Ads in the Vungle Exchange will be limited to 15 seconds. Vungle says it will only serve high-resolution, high-bitrate ads, but doesn't says whether or not there will be a lower resolution fallback for slower connections. The company claims to have conquered the problem of latency and says that it can serve a video faster than the viewer can blink.

Controls within the exchange will let brands control where their ads appear, avoiding apps not considered brand-safe.

Until now, ads in mobile apps have been mostly nonintrusive banners along the bottom of the screen. It will be interesting to see if mobile video ads interest brands, and if viewers will tolerate them.