How Do You Measure Ad Viewability?

June 22, 2018

Its original development was to prevent fraud and ensure brand safety but within the last few years it has now found a new use: assessing viewability. Roughly half of U.S. banner impressions served on advertising networks and exchanges in H2 2013 went unseen, according to a survey by Integral Ad Science. By and large the majority of ads never reached a pair of eyeballs (though publisher-direct buys were more likely to yield higher in-view percentages). It’s been recommended that “marketers should be careful not to conflate “premium” inventory sources with premium viewability numbers” [1].

  • Example #1: Video ads (typically the most expensive display ads) can have viewability just as poorly as the data you’d find for banners.
  • Example #2: Vindico found just 44% of ads served through its Adtricity platform were in-view (between Sept 2013 and Dec 2013).

The fight for standard practices and accountability for ad spending waste has been very vocal since 2011 but it seems that this is the year when it’s finally going to be settled. The goal is to standardize the industry definition of viewability for banners and video display ads (as well as crediting hosts of viewability measurement providers). Many are still unsure of how to hold publishers accountable, though. There is a level of complexity with viewability that makes it difficult to providers but for a team that’s well-experienced with advertising, such as adQuadrant, the is issue is eliminated.

  • Note #1: We manage display advertising inventory to optimize performance and allocate budgets across publishers. We optimize placement of ads across DSPs, networks and direct media buys, and intelligently report attribution.
  • Note #2: adQuadrant’s display solutions offer entry into the top ad networks, which allows us to optimize ad spend and determine where the most conversions start. Our reach allows us to manage your display inventory cost effectively across a wide range of networks and sources. Our technology and insights allow us to target at scale. We provide campaign development, a customized media plan, daily bid management to maximize ROI and weekly reports and performance reviews.

Our team can help you select the most strategic and cost-effective placement of targeted ads. We put brand integrity and performance first. We guarantee our advertisers’ ads are aligned with quality content to achieve quality results. We provide detailed analytics including creative, content, channel, device, audience insights and attribution modeling. We focus on providing our partners with transparency and actionable insights, along with the best in market customer service. When you’re ready to take your advertising to a new level – get in touch with us.

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