AOL has announced the first device-agnostic rich media mobile ad format through Third Screen Media, Platform-A's mobile ad-serving platform and network.

Platform-A's new service lets advertisers run rich media campaigns across all mobile device types, browsers and applications. Developed in partnership with Cielo Mobile, Platform-A's Rich Media Everywhere allows advertisers to serve a uniform advertising experience on mobile browsers and within applications on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian handsets.

"Prior to this announcement, rich media was pretty much limited to iPhone devices and while iPhones are popular devices, rich media was previously only available to this small group of consumers," said Kent Johnson, director of business operations a Platform-A, New York.

"While we were able to serve custom programmed ads for very narrowly targeted campaigns where the targeting matched the devices that the custom programming supported, now we can quickly configure rich media ad campaigns without custom programming and serve the ads to all devices," he said.

For the first time, advertisers can reach a full spectrum of mobile users with rich interactive content such as video, data collection, request a coupon, click to call and map locators.

Rich media campaigns offer advertisers a more robust creative toolset with which to communicate and interact with consumers.

Publishers will benefit from the new technology's flexibility, which enables them to easily rotate high-value rich media campaigns with conventional campaigns in the same ad space, with no custom programming.

With no special configuration required to set up or launch these multi-device campaigns, publishers can phase in the new campaigns smoothly, without disrupting current placements.

Top weather site AccuWeather.com is among the first publishers to leverage this new feature of Platform-A's mobile ad serving platform.

Platform-A's TSM Network and all independent WAP sites with Platform-A ad tags are able to traffic these new Rich Media ads. Fully customizable ad widgets are available to application developers for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian devices.

"AOL's strategy is to provide compelling mobile advertising experiences to all mobile users," Mr. Johnson said. "This will address the challenges of advertisers and will enable them to provide rich media to a wider audience through an ad format that allows them to easily run campaigns across all mobile device types."