The 'Ad Viewability' Uproar: How The Digital Media Industry Is Attacking The Problem Of Unseen Online Ads

BI IntelligenceAutomated real-time bidding ad platforms lead to lower viewability.

Marketers are spending more than ever on digital advertising, but there are growing concerns over whether digital audiences actually see many of these ads.

Users are often served an ad that appears in an inactive web window or an out-of-view part of their screen.

Viewability is particularly challenging for online video ads, since these ads are meant to be seen, heard, and played-through. Automated platforms for buying and selling online ads also tend to aggravate the viewability platform.

In a new report from BI Intelligence we look at how industry groups, advertisers, and ad tech vendors are defining and fixing the viewability problem.

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• The problem of viewability, in part, stems from the way digital ads are bought and sold. Ads are often bought based on cost-per-thousand (CPM) impressions, rather than a performance basis, which means that there are strong incentives in place for ad sellers to inflate impression counts.
• Video ads present a unique set of viewability challenges. Video ads are meant to be seen, heard, and played through to the end.
• A number of ad tech companies have developed viewability-tracking tools, and many publishers already fold in viewability guarantees when they sell directly to advertisers, but these safeguards are offered on an ad-hoc basis.
• Industry groups are working to create standardized definitions for viewability, and are endorsing accredited viewability-measurement specialists. The Media Rating Council (MRC) recently established new viewability guidelines.

The report is full of charts and data that can easily be downloaded and put to use.

• Defines the viewability problem, and explores its root causes.
• Lays out the unique viewability challenges for digital video ad units.
• Examines how viewability performance differs based on how ad units are sold, including publisher-sold, network and RTB-sold inventory.
• Outlines new viewability guidelines from the Media Rating Council (MRC).
• Analyzes how pricing/costing models impact the viewability problem.