Google-owned mobile advertising network Admob launched a beta SDK for Windows Phone 7 (WP7) developers, further building on its iOS, Android and webOS activities. According to a post on Google’s mobile ads blog by Mark Schaaf, Admob’s director of engineering, mobile ads, its tools are currently used by more than 50,000 mobile applications on the three existing platforms. He also said Admob is updating its existing SDKs for iOS and Android so that they include enhanced support for HTML 5. This will enable advertisers to create “more engaging, richer ads and in turn, a richer user experience”, he noted.

The beta SDK for WP7 will enable developers to serve ads from Admob in their WP7-based apps. Adding WP7 support should enable developers to monetise their ad-funded apps across an additional platform. As well as allowing the integration of ads into their apps, the new SDK will enable developers to control the type of ads that appears in their applications and where the ads will appear, says Admob. Both text and banner ads are supported. Post-click options include opening a web page or linking directly to the Windows Phone Marketplace.

The move to HTML5 for iOS and Android will bring benefits to developers who already make use of Admob. “Before, multimedia ads often redirected users to a landing site where rich media was displayed. But by incorporating HTML5 fully into the SDK, developers can do more rich integration in the ad itself, better transitions and full-screen interstitials on tablets,” according to research firm GigaOm Pro. This means an ad can now incorporate more location-based data so that users can be directed to a local store from within the ad itself for example, says the research firm. Schaaf also said the use of HTML5 would reduce the amount of code needed and could mean less data needs to be transferred with the app.

In terms of whether Admob will add other platforms in the future, Schaaf said the BlackBerry OS had come up in discussion. Admob had “some projects we’ve started on the BlackBerry side” and will offer support “if it starts to make sense for our developers”, according to  Schaaf, quoted by mocoNews.