In what an OMD spokesperson called a "policy change," mobile content publishers are now required to get third-party verification for mobile display ad campaigns.

This extra step will ensure more consistent reporting between both the web and mobile web; fewer discrepancies will potentially save more money and time for advertisers and publishers.

Omnicom-owned OMD echoed a number of agencies when it expressed unhappiness with how some publishers serve mobile ads, reports ClickZ. Networks and publishers can satisfy the new criteria in two ways:

• Third-party ad serving, whereby creative is delivered through servers like DoubleClick. The method is favored by agencies, which in turn get exact reporting on which creative was served in a given campaign. The method has the additional benefit of retargeting, frequency-capping, optimizing and otherwise enhancing campaigns, as if the ad were served on the web.
• Server-side included (SSI) is a method already in play by a number of mobile ad networks. Ad delivery, handled by the ad network, is pinged back to a third-party ad server. Agencies do not receive information on creative that ran; they are only informed when an ad is served by a publisher.

Applicable third-party servers include DoubleClick DART, DFA (DART for Advertisers), Eyeblaster and Atlas. A number of ad networks already work in tandem with DoubleClick and other major labels.

"We went through the same situation on the agency side for PC-based advertising," said Paran Johar, of Jumptap, a mobile ad network that apparently meets OMD's edict because it uses the preferred third-party verification providers.

Recent reports find viewers increasingly time-shift between three screens — television, the 'net and mobile — to watch shows or videos.