Medialets Rolls Out Universal SDK For iPhone And iPad Ads

Medialets, an advertising and analytics startup, bet big on the iPhone at the launch of the App Store two years ago, and has been riding the Apple wave ever since. The company is one of the most widely used ad platforms and counts NPR, CNN and Fox as clients. Today, the advertising platform is announcing a Universal SDK for iPhone and iPad, allowing publishers and developers to seamlessly switch between ad networks and first-party ad servers.

The Medialets Universal SDK for iPhone and iPad will allows publishers to modify and change their ad tags from various networks without having to update their app. The new SDK works with any first or third party ad sever, network or mediator, including AdMob and Quattro Wireless tags.

Medialets promises rich media and display advertising on mobile phones that provides deeper engagement with users. In fact, engagement is a primary measurement that the ad platform focuses on when determining the success of its advertising campaigns. Medialets says its app engagement see between 3.5 and 7 minutes of average usage per app usage session. But developers and advertisers may be more beholden to click-through rates, which Medialets claim are between 1 and 8 percent. But eight percent seems a bit high, considering that other rich media mobile ad platforms, including Greystripe and AdMob, are seeing between 1 and 2 percent.

The universal SDK is definitely an attractive feature for developers who may not want to waste time in switching in SDKs for different networks (Mobclix allows you to do this within its platform). And I imagine that other mobile ad networks will develop their own universal SDKs in due time.

Medialets has raised $4 million in Series A funding last spring and plans to launch a universal SDK for Android in the next month.