Smaato Assists IAB to Create the Global In-App GDPR Transparency & Consent Solution for the Mobile Advertising Industry

Public consultation running until early June to add new implementation scenario to Framework, help companies meet GDPR requirements on disclosure, legal bases


SAN FRANCISCO, May 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smaato, the leading global real-time advertising platform for mobile publishers and app developers, has announced in parallel with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab the release of an in-app consent solution to meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). After the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework was implemented in the web environment, Smaato and the IAB Tech Lab, as well as other leading advertising experts, pushed to adopt this approach for the in-app ecosystem. This reference implementation will help the in-app advertising industry, from publishers to technology companies to marketers, comply with the EU’s rules on data protection and privacy — specifically the GDPR which goes into effect on May 25, 2018.

After meeting with members of the IAB Europe at Mobile World Congress in late February, Smaato joined the IAB Europe’s GDPR Implementation Working Group (GIG) and IAB Tech Lab’s GDPR Working Group to help create the in-app solution. IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab drafted a reference implementation for how consent can be gathered and shared using an industry-wide standardized approach. Whereas other industry leaders have siloed their in-app consent solutions, Smaato and other members of the IAB Tech Lab have provided an open-source framework that is available to all publishers.

As a data controller, Smaato is the first to support the new solution inside its Android and iOS SDKs. This seamless integration in the Smaato SDKs allows publishers to gather the required user consent for collecting, processing and distributing EU personal data for advertising purposes. Publishers will benefit from the open-source framework, as users will have a better experience by being able to answer and manage consent in just one place inside an app. The demand side will benefit from having a joint solution for both web and in-app enabling easier GDPR-compliant approaches that will improve transparency with users.

“In-app advertising continues to surge and Smaato is in a unique position to help guide the industry. In-app currently accounts for 96% of global ad spending on our platform, so we are always looking for ways to help mobile in-app publishers, technology partners and advertisers,” said Freddy Friedman, CPO at Smaato. “By assisting the IAB Tech Lab in creating this new open-source in-app consent framework, we are not only helping publishers on our platform, but publishers and partners everywhere who must comply with the GDPR.”

“During the public consultation on the initial technical specifications for the Transparency & Consent Framework that ran during March and April, we were frequently asked what the plan was for mobile app implementation,” noted Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO.  “It is great to be able to go back to the market so quickly now with a proposed way forward.”

By making the Transparency & Consent Framework open-source, Smaato, IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab look forward to the near future when the approach and reference implementation are picked up and improved upon by different Consent Management Providers (CMP). In doing so, CMPs will be able to offer adjustable in-app user interfaces and improved user experience. For more information about IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework, visit the official IAB GitHub, or to access the Consent In-App APIs, visit the official Smaato GitHub.

About Smaato
Smaato is the leading global real-time mobile advertising platform, connecting 10,000+ advertisers — including 91 of the Top 100 Ad Age brands — with over 90,000 app developers and mobile web publishers. Smaato manages up to 19 billion mobile ad impressions daily and reaches over one billion unique mobile users monthly. Founded in 2005 by mobile pioneers Ragnar Kruse and Petra Vorsteher, Smaato has global headquarters in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Hamburg, New York City, Shanghai and Singapore. Learn more at www.smaato.com.

About IAB Technology Laboratory
The IAB Technology Laboratory (“Tech Lab”) is a non-profit research and development consortium that produces and provides standards, software, and services to drive growth of an effective and sustainable global digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers and ad technology firms, as well as marketers, agencies, and other companies with interests in the interactive marketing arena, IAB Tech Lab aims to enable brand and media growth via a transparent, safe, effective supply chain, simpler and more consistent measurement, and better advertising experiences for consumers, with a focus on mobile and “TV”/digital video channel enablement. The IAB Tech Lab portfolio includes the DigiTrust real-time standardized identity service designed to improve the digital experience for consumers, publishers, advertisers, and third-party platforms. Board members include AppNexus, ExtremeReach, Google, GroupM, Hearst Digital Media, Integral Ad Science, Index Exchange, LinkedIn, MediaMath, Microsoft, Oracle’s Moat, Pandora, PubMatic, Quantcast, Telaria, The Trade Desk, and Yahoo! Japan. Established in 2014, the IAB Tech Lab is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco and representation in Seattle and London.

About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector and ensure its sustainability by shaping the regulatory environment, demonstrating the value digital advertising brings to Europe’s economy, to consumers and to the market, and developing and facilitating the uptake of harmonised business practices that take account of changing user expectations and enable digital brand advertising to scale in Europe.

Contact:
Emily Riley
914-330-1128
eriley@witstrategy.com