One of the most alluring aspects of digital advertising has always been its accountability. In the quest to determine true ROI, data heads and marketers have drawn on a wealth of performance metrics, analytics and sales efficiencies. So, the emergence of claims that less than half of digital ads are seen is bound to cause alarm.
What is the viewability challenge?
The ad may have been served, the advertiser will have been charged, but has the ad been seen? Currently, viewability is defined as 50% of the ad pixels being in view for at least one second. But how should we quantify good? Is it 50%, 60%, 75% viewability; should it vary by campaign?
Then, the pressing issue of standardisation comes to the fore. Ad verification technology monitoring ad placements for safety, fraudulent activity and viewability lacks a common language. On a single campaign one provider may report 43% viewability while another reports 60%. Tech providers wear the Media Ratings Counsel (MRC) accreditation as a badge of honour, yet the MRC currently works to verify methodology and functionality – not to drive standardisation, shared methodology or metrics.
What needs to happen?
The US market is a few steps ahead of us. Many US clients have taken measures to understand their viewability rates before adjusting their product or media buying. Kellogg's saw that improving ad viewability by 40% produced a 75% increase in sales life from digital advertising. Compelling results.
In the UK, media suppliers, tech providers and industry bodies are developing industry standards and guidelines on viewability. Currently the IAB advises against trading on viewability until Q2 2014 at the earliest because there are discrepancies in viewabilty reporting. Until these issues are resolved publishers, brands and tech vendors will be left in quasi-paralysis, although there are some actions we can take immediately:
1. Conduct an audit
An audit will help you ascertain exactly how your current activity rates. First, choose a tech provider (there are plenty of partners out there to help). Select what element of display advertising to test (all programmatic activity, brand activity or all display activity, for example), set a certain amount of time/budget, then sit back and wait. When your tech provider reports back on viewability, look for a breakdown on how each element of display is performing, assessing any weak spots.
2. Create a test and learn approach
The debate on the best method of buying in-view ads rages on. Should one roll out the whole campaign then pay only for ads in view? Another option is to control the buy beforehand, only serving ads that are in-view.
Different testing strands might reveal a trade-off; if you take one pocket of display buying and optimise that towards in-view, it might ultimately cost more.
I'd advise trialling Google's viewable impression CPM bidding in AdWords in conjunction with other 'pay for in-view' models offered through RTB. Do ask yourself, though, how you feel about buying 'guaranteed' viewable impressions from the same entity that's providing viewability results. Overall, taking a test-and-learn approach should help you determine whether the impact on scale and cost is worth the uplift in viewability.
3. Keep an eye on the market
With standardisation still in its infancy, keep pace with announcements from key industry bodies, particularly the IAB and the MRC, on provider accreditation. Keep talking to different tech buyers to maintain a view on standardisation and unity.
An obvious downside to the viewability conversation is its potential to cascade into a debate about integrity. To correct this, much as with issues of privacy and email spamming, it's imperative that clients and agencies work together openly and collaboratively. We'll need to take a step-by-step approach towards agreed benchmarks.
The good news is that the fog will lift soon. Greater clarity around measurement, performance metrics and buying models will improve transparency, allowing advertisers to invest in display with confidence. This isn't the first time we've faced a new digital frontier, after all.
Kirsten Miller is digital director at Maxus.
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