Digital advertising firm Rubicon Project has announced the launch of its Mobile Native Ad Server – a joint venture with InMobi which enables publishers to deliver native ad campaigns alongside their indirect buys.

The supply-side platform will give publishers and app developers better control over the sale and placement of in-app native ads, including premium and in-house ad campaigns, according to InMobi’s vice president and general manager, global alliances, Anna Frisbie.

“We are thrilled to be working with Rubicon Project to provide app developers around the world with a complete end-to-end supply-side solution for in-app native advertising.

“This will accelerate the adoption of native ads by premium publishers and thereby improve the consumer experience of mobile advertising overall.”

Native innovation

The platform’s launch comes on the heels of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) new OpenRTB 2.3 specification for native ads, enabling sellers to deliver native campaigns in real time across a broader range of platforms, devices and advertising solutions.

The IAB’s new spec has made it easier for brands to move into native advertising, according to the co-founder and CEO at messaging app Pinger, Greg Woock, who claims developers can create “compelling experiences” for consumers by combining the creative native ad units with their apps’ own unique attributes.  

“For many campaigns, we have seen mobile native programmatic ads increase performance by a factor or two to five,” he added.

Emily Del Greco, vice president of sales at Adelphic, adds that mobile native programmatic has in many cases increased performance by “a factor of two to five”:

“Native ads capitalise on the limited real estate of mobile. Bringing more of this inventory into the market greatly benefits brands and publishers.”

Rubicon’s Project’s head of mobile, Joe Prusz, claimed it was giving buyers the “easy button for mobile” by marrying the efficiency and targeting of automation with the engagement and performance of native advertising formats.