In addition, Medialets promises more seamless integration of social media features, email, SMS, embedded maps and add-to-calendar capabilities. The company has also added more functionality and flexibility to expansions.

Also, Medialets is introducing the Growable ad unit, which uses a single HTML5 file partially hidden to expand, and the Audio ad units, which can be deployed with or without visual accompaniment.

As much as I may criticize The Wall Street Journal’s “What They Know” series for being hyper-paranoid, the paper’s coverage on mobile app data has actually been very informative. WSJ shares viaForensics findings that several apps aren’t encrypting stored user name and password data on Android devices, which frankly seems bizarre…

Fwix tells TechCrunch it plans to index the web location by location — starting with NBC’s local sites in New York and the Bay Area.

Video audience targeter Grab Networks will provide clients with a slew of new advertising formats thanks to a partnership with AdoTube.

PointRoll claims to be the first ad tech company that will be able to support the six winners of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s “Rising Stars” contest, including AOL’s Project Devil, renamed IAB Portrait.

Thanks to a partnership with mobile rich media tech firm Phluant, TRAFFIQ clients to will now be able to serve rich media mobile creative across a wide variety of mobile inventory services.

Microsoft Advertising is augmenting current mobile rich media service with PointRoll through partnerships with EyeWonder and Phulant. Microsoft boasts hot mobile web properties like Fox Sports, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and MSN.

Speaking of PointRoll integrations, interclick has decided to take its integration with PointRoll deeper, giving clients automated reporting through AdControl 3.2 and
providing transparency inventory sources generating the highest rich-media engagement rates.

The next version of Apple’s iOS will feature a Twitter integration.

Premium mobile video ad network AdColony, a division of Jirbo, has partnered with vertically-focused digital media company Evolve Media Corp. to boost fill rates for mobile app publishers.

WPP Group bought a 70% stake in Brazil-based digital agency F.biz, well regarded for its mobile achievements.

Dentsu has acquired digital marketing network Steak Group, which will fall under Dentsu Network West and report to the London Office.

Researchers think 120,000 Android users leaked data — such as the mobile ID, handset model and other apps on the device — through 30 downloaded apps with malware.

At the heart of the initiative — led by The Weather Channel, mobile ad platform Crisp Wireless and app developer Tringapps, who each made a significant technological contribution to its development — is the extension of desktop ad serving to mobile apps to defrag the space. ORMMA is based on HTML5 standards so ad units will be compatible across all mobile platforms and includes rich media ad specifications and open-source code.

Early adopters of the new standard include ad networks PointRoll and Jumptap, and ORMMA is currently under review by the Mobile Marketing Association, which is expected to disclose an evaluation and whitepaper on the initiative within three months.

“The current model for serving ads into mobile apps is broken. Publishers and app developers need to work with numerous vendors and SDKs to run campaigns across multiple platforms and devices, which greatly limits the ability to plan large-scale, mobile rich media ad buys,” said Cameron Clayton, senior vice president of mobile and digital applications for The Weather Channel. “The mission of ORMMA is to simplify the serving of rich media ads into mobile apps by creating an open standard and industry best practices that gain contribution from — and are adopted by — leading publishers, developers and vendors.”

Further technical details can be found at ormma.org, as well as the ORMMA Google Gode Project wiki, which overviews the software development kit and details the initiatives proposed standards.

With a panel of 2 million consumers and a bevy of click-stream data, Compete and PointRoll discovered that on average, expandables drove brand searches 39% more than non-expandables, and in some cases that rate reached as high as 155%. Expandables won on the purchase indicator circuit as well, with a 43% average higher rate and a peak of 115%.

“We looked at how rich media display ads perform across various brand and response metrics and verticals and found statistical validation that expandables outperform non-expandables in every category we measured, including brand engagement, site visitations and search,” said Compete CMO Stephen DiMarco.

Check out more interesting stats here.

Speaking of missed holiday opportunities, digital marketer PointRoll examined three years of interaction data during the fourth quarter and found that early November is a prime time to start engaging consumers with holiday-related retail advertisements.

Average ad interaction rates (defined as anything from clicking to watching a video) ranged from 4% to 6% in the fourth quarter, with early December recording the nadir before edging up to 5% at the end of the month. However, November boasted a 6% average interaction rate. The average time users spent with an ad peaked at 18 seconds during the first two weeks of November, while click-through rates also hit a high-mark for the quarter at 0.5%

“Because fewer advertisers are in market with their ads early in the holiday season, marketers who begin their media efforts earlier stand to increase revenues disproportionately to their competitors during the fourth quarter,” said Max Mead, PointRoll vice president of business development and analytics. ”Savvy retail marketers looking for an edge during the holiday season should begin their online campaigns early to capitalize on user interest and to distance themselves from their peers.”

On a side note, the earlier you bring out your oversized and hideous exterior holiday, the more time there is to deface them. I’m not saying that I personally would harm them… no matter what the police reports say I’ve done in the past.

But web-browsing students might start getting bummed earlier as a new study by PointRoll and its retail arm ShopLocal shows that BTS advertising in July drew more interaction than August.

According to data gathered from 2006 through 2009 through 488 PointRoll campaigns and 17 ShopLocal-hosted online Circular Sites, interaction rates for apparel-focused ads were higher in July (5.47%) and September (6.0%) than August (5.23%). However, at the end of August and prior to Labor Day, office and school supplies and apparel retailers cut their campaigns by 75%.

Consumers were quite engaged with computer ads in July and August, while the interaction rate for September was 7% lower than July.

Dig@torial is a customized solution that combines the impact of PointRoll rich media and video with the quality of publisher online editorial content and video. The Discovery Dig@torial draws editorial and video content into an in- banner experience where users can interactively engage with both site and brand. Designed to connect consumers with Discovery content while providing marketers with the ability to integrate relevant product information, the Dig@torial increases user engagement and response.

“This important partnership has broad implications not just for PointRoll and Discovery, but for the whole advertising industry as greater relevance and targeting are now in play,” said Jason Tafler, CEO of PointRoll. “PointRoll’s Dig@torial enables publishers and brands to make an impression, seamlessly fusing customized site content with branded messages to bring together relevant and engaging content that inspires users to interact and respond. Dig@torial’s offer an opportunity to combine existing content from premium publishers with immersive rich media to create a new channel for advertising.”

David Carlick was hired as VP of Publishing at Grocery Shopping Network. Carlick has a long history in the media industry as a creator and builder of many companies such as DoubleClick, Ask Jeeves, and MySpace.

Specific Media, a media platform company, has promoted two executives. Perry Nusbaum has been promoted to senior vice president, agency relations from his previous position of vice president of Eastern U.S. sales. In his new role, Nusbaum is focused on driving high level partnerships with ad agencies on the East Coast and Midwest. Bill Schild has been appointed to lead the Eastern U.S. sales territory from his previous role of regional vice president of East Coast sales. In his new role, Schild will oversee sales and operations for all East Coast offices including New York, Boston and Atlanta.

AudienceScience (formerly Revenue Science) has added Stephanie Walton to its West Coast sales team as Sales Manager. Stephanie has held account executive positions at several of the nation’s largest media companies including ABC/Disney, CBS and Clear Channel and their radio affiliates.

interCLICK, an ad network based in NYC, has hired Kurt Munzinger as senior vice president of sales for the west coast region, and Heather Oxer as vice president of sales for the Midwest region. Kurt comes to interCLICK with over nine years of experience from Specific Media and Platform-A, now AOL Advertising. Heather comes most recently from Yahoo!, where she was a senior account director.

PointRoll, a provider of rich media advertising, has joined the Yahoo Smart Ads program to help marketers create dynamic rich media ads and increase campaign performance. As a member of Yahoo’s Smart Ads program, PointRoll will leverage Yahoo’s reach and targeting capabilities to provide even more customized, relevant, and scalable rich media campaigns. PointRoll will also leverage its ShopLocal retail advertising program in order to offer enhanced Smart Ads for retail advertisers.

Specific Media:

Leroy Holland joins Specific Media as a senior account executive within the San Francisco region. Holland brings more than 10 years of sales experience to Specific Media, including previous positions at AOL’s Platform-A and Fox Interactive Media’s IGN Entertainment.

Melissa Holder was hired as account executive within the San Francisco region. She previously spent four years as a national account executive at Yahoo! Hot Jobs.

Adify:

The vertical ad network management and media services company announced the appointments of Glenn Fishback, SVP media sales, Lee Hoffman, VP media sales, eastern region, and Jonny Byrne, commercial director, UK to build out the sales team for Adify’s new division, Adify Media.

Fishback was previously the VP of sales at Turn Inc. He also held VP of sales positions at Coupons Inc. and Claria Corporation, including management of revenue growth in the U.S., Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

Hoffman joins Adify Media from AOL’s ad network, Platform-A, where he was a regional sales director managing over $50m in revenue. His career includes VP-level sales positions at WebMD, Ask Jeeves, MaxOnline, and MaxWorldwide (formerly L90/Doubleclick North American Media). In his new role at Adify Media, Hoffman will lead Adify’s New York office and drive media sales for the eastern and midwestern U.S.

Byrne comes to Adify from Tiscali UK Ltd, where he was head of agency sales and ran the media sales team responsible for generating in excess of £7m net sales PA. He was sales manager and key account director at Incisive Media (formally VNU Business Publications), and led the international team providing cross-media solutions for Europe’s top 20 corporate tech clients. In his new role as commercial director, Byrne will lead Adify Media’s London office, overseeing UK media sales.

Getfugu:

Former Ask Jeeves co-founder David Warthen was named Chief Technology Officer. In addition to his achievements with Ask Jeeves, Warthen has successfully led a number of smaller startup companies including: Jiles Inc., a start-up company developing natural language search products, Geomas Software, a privately held business developing Geo-Targeted search products based on their intellectual property and Eye Games Inc., a pioneering developer of next-generation man-machine interactive webcam video games.

The Social Media Advertising Consortium (SMAC):

The industry association has announced creation of its Board of Directors and the appointment of Maura Curtin as the organization’s Executive Director. Curtin brings almost 15 years experience in the digital arena at Fox Interactive Media, Fairchild Publications and iVillage.

2ergo:

The mobile tech company is furthering its global expansion plans by today announcing a significant business development partnership in China. The UK-based company has agreed the strategic partnership with telecommunications business development specialist, Intralink.

NetShelter Technology Media

Anne Marie Miller was hired as vice president, strategic accounts. She most recently served as corporate senior vice president of sales at United Business Media.

Hydra

Rachel Corcoran was hired director of compliance overseeing Hydra’s compliance team and the Hydra AdControl suite of services. Most recently, Corcoran served as the manager of corporate regulatory compliance and contracts at Experian.

Pointroll:

Ray McIntosh was hired as sales director, west coast; Chris Baughman as avp, creative strategy; Dana Summers as account executive, Pacific Northwest; and Rhiannon Ubelhor as an account executive, Auto, for the Los Angeles post.