AppNexus has launched Guaranteed Views, a marketplace product that changes the way advertising is bought and sold on the open internet.

Guaranteed Views enables marketers and agencies to pay only for ads that are measured as viewable and is the first programmatic product that enables 100 per cent viewable buying at scale outside of Facebook and Google.

AppNexus CSO Tom Shields said, “Until now, when advertisers bought programmatic on the open internet, only about 50 per cent of ads were viewable. We’re changing that.

“We believe this will help reverse the disproportionate flow of advertising dollars going to walled gardens like Google and Facebook.”

Previously, transacting on 100 per cent viewable inventory was only available through Facebook and Google’s Display Network, and threshold viewability targeting on the open internet required complex and time-consuming work to optimize to viewability based on historical averages.

By targeting the small subset of inventory of historically high viewability, buyers ignored large swaths of lower-cost inventory on the open internet that could be in-view.

With Guaranteed Views, buyers can target the entire open internet, use viewability as a given outcome, and optimize campaigns to other KPIs.

As a result, buyers typically see improvement in cost per view, unique audience reach, click through rate, and cost per click.

AppNexus senior director of marketplace management Viren Tellis said, “Advertisers now see the ability to buy on views as table stakes for effective buying, but the open internet lacked the technology to do this in real time and at scale.

“Guaranteed Views is the first programmatic product of its kind because instead of layering multiple optimization types, buyers can assume viewability is a given and focus on achieving the performance KPIs advertisers care about.”

Guaranteed Views uses view prediction technology to determine impression values.

AppNexus takes on the risk by paying the publisher a CPM on every impression even though buyers only pay for viewed ads, thus creating a liquid market.

Guaranteed Views is built to work with third party viewability vendors and adheres to the IAB standard definition of viewability or custom definitions.

Digital investment lead of programmatic & video Sarah Warner said, “Delivering accountability around viewability remains a GroupM imperative for the positive impact it has on overall campaign effectiveness.

“With Guaranteed Views from AppNexus, we’ve delivered 100 per cent viewability, broadened the net of qualifying impressions and beaten client-mandated click through rates.”

Operam director of programmatic and display Brian Lam said, “Setting up Guaranteed Views is a seamless process, as the AppNexus platform does all the heavy lifting and assumes the risk on our behalf.

“This solution made it simple to set up the KPIs we were after, knowing that our advertiser would only be paying for the impressions that were viewed.

“We are extremely pleased with the transparency and accountability that Guaranteed Views provides and look forward to incorporating them into our advertising campaigns moving forward.”

Adform COO Oliver Whitten added, “Our aspiration as a technology provider is to deliver ads that are as relevant as possible to the person viewing them, in a way that ensures not only that the ad is viewed by the user, but viewed in as positive and complementary context as possible.

“The path to 100 per cent viewability across the industry is a complex one, but now advertisers and agencies can guarantee viewability in an automated way, that will support both the interest of the consumer and the whole business process being more efficient.

“This transition is at the heart of what we see in requests from brands and agencies in their focus on transparency-based metrics.”

Advertisers can buy Guaranteed Views globally through the AppNexus Marketplace.

This functionality is now available via AppNexus’ DSP, the AppNexus Programmable Platform.

It is also available in closed beta via The Trade Desk and will become available through integrations with other DSPs including Adform in the coming months.