Advertising Technology

Headlines starting off the year in ad-tech news have sought to finally hammer out definitions for terms that went mainstream last year. The viewability debate rages on, and industry execs are offering their own meanings to just what is a premium publisher. Also, there are more of those publishers going programmatic with their premium inventory. Lastly, Twitter is making at-tech waves by paving the way for autoplay video ads on its service.

• Op-ed: ‘Dark viewability' and why the IAB has it right (Digiday) – Jeff Burkett, of The Washington Post, provided his point of view this week on the viewability debate between the two sides of the coin that have been claimed by the IAB and the 4 A's. Burkett, writing obviously from the publishers' perspective, and brings up the potential lost revenue for publishers when campaigns demand 100 viewability but the technology to even measure each and every impression doesn't exist.

• Google to Roll Out Viewability Reporting (ClickZ) – Speaking of viewability, Google is making the push to provide more information for brand advertisers running campaigns through its system. The reports, specifically relating to video, will offer insights about which are seen, unseen, ignored or skipped through.

• What does ‘premium publisher' mean, anyway? (Digiday) – As soon as the phrase “premium publisher” came about, publishers obviously wanted to play that tag. One of the benefits of being seen as premium is what could be charged for advertising. Despite the moniker's age, there's still a bit of debate about what exactly might make a publisher a premium one. Check out our comment at the end of the article, as we felt like weighing in too.
• More Top Media Publications Trust Programmatic For Premium Ad Inventory (AdWeek) – So, “premium” certainly gets around. There's also premium inventory — the stuff that big time pubs have long reserved for their direct sales teams to deal with. Programmatic buying started out as an excellent way to monetize that remnant inventory (that which remained after the sales team finished their business). However, the results from programmatic selling have seen such great results that more top-level publishers are using it for the top-level inventory.

• Twitter's Video Plans Include Autoplay Ad Previews (AdAge) – Advertisers prefer autoplay video because it grabs the user's attention. Users don't like autoplay video, because it grabs their attention. Many website publishers prefer to keep their users happy, and will only work with advertising partners who offer the ability to remove autoplay from video ads. Social media sites, however, have taken a different road. First, Facebook introduced autoplay video ads. Now it looks like Twitter is just a few steps away.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) this week released the “State of Viewability Transaction 2015,” a position paper offering the digital media and advertising industries guidance on how to manage the shift of digital media's “audience currency” to 100 percent viewability.

The IAB statement heralds the collaboration among the digital trade association, the ANA, and the 4As that has stewarded the historic change in advertising measurement, but labels 2015 a “year of transition,” and calls on advertising agencies, publishers, marketers, and advertising technology companies to work together to assure the new currency can be implemented by all companies in the digital advertising ecosystem. The paper reiterates a statement made in October by the Media Rating Council (MRC), the organization charged by the industry with managing the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) processes, that 100 percent viewability is “unreasonable for advertisers, agencies and publishers implementing viewable impressions as measurement currency to expect to observe viewable rates of 100% in analyses of their campaigns.”

“It's time to set the record straight about what is technically and commercially feasible, in order to get ourselves on an effective road to 100 percent viewability and greater accountability for digital media,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “The MRC said it best – 100 percent is currently unreasonable. Why? Because, different ad units, browsers, ad placements, vendors and measurement methodologies yield wildly different viewability numbers.”

“Publishers, agencies, marketers, and ad tech companies can resolve these differences by working collaboratively to make measurement make sense. We won't do it by holding guns to each others' heads,” he added.

To foster stronger collaboration and build trust, the IAB recommends that marketers, agencies, and publishers adhere to the following seven principles during 2015:

1. All billing should continue to be based on the number of Served Impressions during a campaign and these should be separated into two categories: Measured and Non-Measured.
2. Given the limitations of current technology, and the publisher observed variances in measurement of 30-40%, it is recommended that in this year of transition, Measured Impressions be held to a 70% viewability threshold.
3. If a campaign does not achieve the 70% viewability threshold for Measured Impressions, publishers should be willing to make good with additional Viewable Impressions until the threshold is met. Such a guarantee assures that all paid measurable ad impressions will be viewable at a threshold that both exceeds the minimum standard and falls within observed variances.
4. All make-goods should be in the form of additional Viewable Impressions, not cash, and should be delivered in a reasonable time frame. Make-good impressions should be both Viewable and generally consistent with inventory that was purchased in the original campaign. Determination of threshold achievement is based on total campaign impressions, not by each line item. In other words, some line items may not achieve threshold, but others can compensate.
5. For large format ads, defined as 242,500 pixels or over, a Viewable Impression is counted if 30% of the pixels of the ad are viewable for a minimum of one continuous second, as noted in the “MRC Viewable Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines.”
6. All transactions between buyers and sellers should use MRC accredited vendors only.
7. A buyer and a seller should agree on a single measurement vendor ahead of time. The industry aspires to variances of no more than 10% between viewability measures provided by different vendors. All stakeholders must avoid costly, labor-intensive, error-prone manual processes of reconciling different sets of viewability numbers, hence the benefits of agreeing on a single vendor.

“The entire industry came together to provide true accountability through a single viewability measurement,” said Jason Kint, CEO, Digital Content Next (formerly the Online Publishers Association). “At this point in time, it's critical that all parties adhere to the MRC standard and provide for a period of transition while the systems catch up. On behalf of all premium publishers, I commend the IAB's shepherding the industry through this phase.”

To read the entire “State of Viewability Transaction 2015” statement, go to http://www.iab.net/viewability.

About the IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. It is comprised of more than 650 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital advertising or marketing campaigns. Together, they account for 86 percent of online advertising in the United States. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. The organization is committed to professional development, elevating the knowledge, skills, and expertise of individuals across the digital marketing industry. The IAB also educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City.