The lack of a coherent viewability standard for internet advertising is the hot topic of debate. The issue is leaving the industry flustered and advertisers more puzzled than ever. Dominic Finney (pictured) takes the lid off the prickly issue of viewability.
Internet ad revenue is growing, driven by advertisers looking for new ways to reach consumers, who have made digital media and media devices part of their daily lives. But there is a building cynicism that viewing standards and assessment tools to measure advert viewing just aren’t working at an industry wide level, and it could trip up the industry if it doesn’t take action soon.
Don’t get me wrong. The online advertising industry is flying right now. The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) recently unveiled its latest ‘IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report’, revealing that online ad revenues in the United States reached an all-time high of $27.5 billion in the first half of 2015. At the same time, IAB Europe said that European online advertising had reached a landmark of €30.7bn in 2014 after five consecutive years of double digit growth. But despite these market growth, behind the scenes the media industry is in turmoil over advert measurement.
To understand the exasperation felt by advertisers on trying to get coherent figures on who as actually viewing their online ads we need to take a step back. Back in 2014, The IAB UK decided to release a set of UK Viewable Impressions standards to offer guidance and greater accountability for advertisers. These mirrored guidelines released in the US following extensive collaboration between IAB UK and IAB US to agree common transatlantic standards, designed to ensure consistency across both markets.
Viewability metrics and perplexing reports
The standards stated that 50 per cent of pixels must be in the viewable portion of an internet browser for a minimum of one continuous second to qualify as a viewable display impression for a standard display ad. The IAB hoped the standard would become the new currency for online advertising and would go some way to answering demands for a move away from ‘served’ ad impressions to ‘viewable’ ones. Previously, the industry relied on impressions which measured adverts based on a page load, regardless of whether it was viewed or not.
The Media Rating Council then moved to accredit a group of third party technology vendors to track viewability metrics. There are now 15 accredited vendors. But, media sellers just can’t be compatible with all these systems. At the same time, media buyers are getting confusing reports from diverse systems, all throwing out different viewability figures. The end result has left many perplexed.
However, the market has given the viewability measurement a chance. Primarily because brands have got to advertise online these days to get to their target markets. That is until Google waded in stating that more than 56% of online adverts are never seen by their intended audience. Why? Because they are ‘below the fold’, i.e people don’t scroll down the page to see the entire advert.
The IAB then opted to set a new threshold of 70% viewability for campaigns through 2015 in a bid to help the industry transition to buying and selling ads on a viewable impression basis. However, the American Association of Advertising Agencies said that mission should be 100% viewability.
A rebel pack then emerged. A small, influential group of marketers and agencies, including global media buyer GroupM and its client Unilever. They went straight for the highest standard, recommending desktop display adverts of 100% viewability and desktop video as 100% of the player in view plus half a second of ad play. They said the sound must be on and the user must have clicked to start.
And so the fracas over viewability methodology continues, leaving the industry as nonplussed as before.
The goal posts are changing
Marketers basically want a viewabiity methodology that will give them a standardised look across sites so they can track performance and allocate budgets accordingly. It is a no-brainer when it comes to advertising metrics, but this discord in the industry is leading heavyweight tech companies to take the viewability into their own hands.
Google has announced it is making major changes to its Google Display Network so that advertisers only pay for adverts that are 100% viewable. The company said that within the next few months all advertisers that buy on a CPM basis will only pay when their ads appear in a viewable position. Although the move is deemed to be in a bid to combat ad blockers, it will dramatically change the online advertising landscape.
Facebook has also made a move to appease advertisers, providing a premium option to pay only if an entire advert appears on a user’s screen. Moving forward, the new, full-view buying option will be available for adverts seen in Facebook newsfeeds, including text, photo, link ads and video.
Twitter is now serving autoplay video across its service. It is promising only to charge on video adverts that have been seen 100 percent in full view of the user for at least three seconds. This standard is on a par with Facebook’s three-second rule on when views count.
It isn’t only the tech industry that is tightening the noose on viewability requirements. Many brands and agencies are demanding viewability scores improve against a future threat of unsold adverts. In a recent study we carried out for ad tech firm InSkin Media, 50% of senior agency and publisher executives said they did not believe the viewability standards set by the IAB and Media Rating Council (MCR) are adequate. The figure hit 63% for large non-standard formats such as wallpaper and skins.
Those surveyed were adamant that inconsistency of measurement across vendor solutions was at the centre of producing real inconsistencies in viewability scores. To put this into perspective it was rated as being key (8.3 out of 10 in terms of importance) to future digital marketing strategies.
The viewability maze
The confusion over viewability standards means we are a long way off creating standards and consistency of measurement tools to enable a vCPM model. Shockingly, 53% of industry panellists we surveyed said they didn’t think it would actually be possible for ‘all brand advertising’ formats to be purchased on a viewable impression basis.
The future is bright
Digital advertising has been built on the idea that adverts get delivered to websites, rather than based on what adverts consumers are able to view. With the creation of viewability standards and measurement the impression model is no longer adequate. So what we need is the industry to work together and get behind a 100% viewability standard and a consistent measurement solution that works and innovation can really take hold.
Dominic Finney is MD at FaR Partners (a Theorem Digital company).
