Greystripe Brings Flash to iPad Applications, Brightcove Goes HTML5

Rich media mobile ad network Greystripe has announced it’s extending its iFlash ads product to Apple’s iPad, enabling advertisers and developers to make use of Flash-like content and interactive ads within applications on the device.

Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad do not support Adobe’s Flash video plugin, but Greystripe’s technology workaround essentially interprets and re-encodes Flash files to be viewed on those products’ operating systems. That means less work for developers, and easy translation of existing online creative and campaigns to Apple devices for advertisers.

Michael Chang, Greystripe CEO, says he expects “an influx of content into the Greystripe network” as a result of the Adobe partnership, adding that it will boost reach for advertisers across the network as a result. The technology only functions within applications, however, meaning Flash-based ads will not work within the iPad’s browser environment.

Yesterday however, online video platform Brightcove announced it plans to roll out support for the HTML5 standard for video delivery – a mechanism supported by all Apple products – in order to better serve its customers, specifically in response to the iPad launch.

In a post on the Brightcove blog, head of marketing Jeff Whatcott said, “Now we have seen the incredibly broad adoption of devices such as the iPhone (and soon the iPad) that do not support Flash, but do support the HTML5 standard. Many device platforms have pledged to support Flash video, but the adoption of non-Flash devices is expected to be broad enough that many publishers are worried that they will be missing a substantial audience if they rely exclusively on a Flash-only strategy.”

Whatcott insists Brightcove will not limit its support for Flash. “Our work to support HTML5 is not about weakening Flash, it is about pragmatically solving problems for our customers,” he said.

According a Brightcove press release, The New York Times and Time Inc. are already making use of the HTML5 standard in their development of iPad-ready sites. As the release points out, The New York Times Company is a Brightcove investor.