The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK has today (September 23) announced the decision to merge its IAB Board and Mobile Board, reflecting the centralised role mobile now plays in the digital ad economy.
The move was spurred on by a need to keep in line with the mobile revolution currently swarming around the online advertising industry – an event which has seen smartphones and tablets become the most commonly used devices for accessing the internet.
A recent study by the industry’s leading regulatory body found that consumers now spend 1 hour and 37 minutes per day on mobile devices, compared to 1 hour 16 minutes on desktops.
Central to everything
The group believes it’s now a ‘crucial’ time to ensure that mobile is no longer treated as a separate discipline.
Not only this, representatives from the IAB are hoping the move will encourage the wider digital industry to do the same.
“We feel it’s the right time to do this with mobile ad spend now accounting for nearly one quarter of digital advertising,” said the Bureau’s CEO, Guy Phillipson.
“Mobile has been a core focus for us for a while now but making it central to everything we do is a significant move for the IAB and reflects mobile’s mainstream status in the lives of UK consumers.”
Key players
While the IAB Board makes the majority of decisions and provides the long-term strategy at the Bureau, its Mobile Board represents some of the UK’s biggest mobile operators, media owners and agency groups.
Current members include the likes of T-Mobile, Three, Google, MediaCom, Opera Mediaworks and Mindshare among others.
With the two groups intact, the IAB UK cites the connection of brands with consumers effectively across multiple devices as a goal for the remainder of 2015.