Admeld announced this week that it’s integrating support for mobile ad inventory into its platform. It’s an interesting development given the early signs of convergence between online and mobile display. Google’s acquisition of Admob last month suggests convergence is not far off. Do you think Google will keep mobile and online advertising on separate platforms? My bet is that Google will make this mobile ad inventory available on its DoubleClick Exchange in the coming months.

Admeld’s move then is a smart one. A lot of online publishers also have mobile ad inventory - and having one platform to optimise both mobile and web ad networks will ultimately help increase efficiency and improve yield. FarneyMedia spoke to Admeld CEO, Michael Barrett, this week about the new mobile ad optimisation service:

Can you explain how the new mobile ad optimisation functionality on your platform works?

The basis of our mobile solution is the same powerful optimization engine we’ve built and refined for the web display market. At the highest level, the technology addresses a two-level problem: seamlessly integrating with a variety of demand sources with minimal latency, and leveraging predictive logic to determine which source will generate the highest revenue for a given impression.

Will it be available on the same platform?

Yes. Publishers will be able to access consolidated reports for both mobile and display through one interface.

How is this going to benefit the publisher?

There are three main benefits for the publisher. First and foremost, maximizing their ad revenues. Second, saving time and operational resources that could be focused elsewhere, such as their direct-sold inventory. Third, providing the convenience of leveraging a single partner to monetize their inventory across multiple channels.

Are you the first in the market to offer this optimisation service across multiple channels?

I think we probably are, but our focus right now is being the best at it rather than the first.

Are you looking to compete with the likes of Smaato in the mobile ad net optimisation space?

We started working on this for one reason: we wanted to provide our customers with a product that meets the full spectrum of their needs. When we looked at the field of existing mobile optimization solutions, we didn’t find one that completely achieved that goal, so it led us to start building our own blend of mobile services. That said, there are certain companies in the space we anticipate working with to integrate specific features into our solution down the road.

The mobile ad market is vastly different from display - such as ad placements, buying methods, and the ad nets and platforms in that particular channel. How is AdMeld going to help publishers maximise revenue from their mobile ad inventory?

There are certainly substantive differences in how the display and mobile ad markets work. However, when we analyzed the technical challenges involved in optimizing mobile inventory, we began to see some key similarities that align well with what we’ve been doing day-in and day-out for the past couple of years. That’s integrating with disparate systems across literally hundreds of demand sources, and making a very rapid decision about which one to go with. The fact that our publishers have almost exclusively asked us optimize inventory on only the very largest smartphone platforms simplifies the task to a certain degree as well.

Will all ad networks and exchanges on your platform have the opportunity to bid on mobile and display together?

We don’t anticipate a need to enable them to bid on display and mobile in the same auction, but if the question is a broader one about whether the two types of inventories will be bought by the same entities moving forward, I think that will increasingly be the case.

Is this the start of a convergence between mobile and online display?

Things seem to be pointing in that direction, but I think the industry has a lot more ground to cover before there’s something that meets the classic definition of market convergence.