Viewability Inventory Remains Stagnant Despite Industry Push: Report

The amount of ad inventory that is deemed viewable has stayed at 42 per cent, despite the industry’s concerted push to trade on viewable impressions in recent months, claims a report from ad tech company Integral Ad Science.

However when ads are placed with the publisher directly, instead of through a media agency, it increases slightly to 45 per cent.

An ad is considered viewable if more than 50 per cent of its pixels are on display for at least one second, two if the ad is video.

Many media agencies have announced their own intentions to trade on viewable impressions for their clients – such as GroupM’s 100 per cent viewability commitment and IPG’s Project Quality – however not everyone is convinced trading on viewable impressions is the way to go.

Outgoing CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Alice Manners continues to stress the technology is not quite there yet to move completely to trading on viewable impressions.

“There is still work that needs to be done in this marketplace,” said Manners in a recent interview, “both from an education perspective and tackling some of the challenges that we have before we’re in a comfortable position to be able to trade on viewable impressions.

Echoing that, there’s still a long way to go, conceded James Diamond, managing director at Integral Ad Science.

“We know some media agencies are now pushing viewability minimums or guarantees,” he said.

“Hopefully that will improve viewability across the board this year, but there’s still a long way to travel. I fear those, without agreements with publishers in place are losing out, and they could see their viewability rates actually decline.”

Besides measuring viewability, the media quality report from Intergal Ad Science looked at brand safety and ad fraud – a big concern in the industry.

The report found 13 per cent of inventory placed – not just viewable inventory – was considered to have potential risk for brand safety. And it means there’s more reason than ever for advertisers to take more control of their media planning.

“Volatility in world affairs makes news sites a particular concern for brand safety,” said Diamond. “Buyers need to consider an individual-page-based approach rather than a domain focused assessment, as well as employing tailored thresholds rather than a singular ‘safe/unsafe’ rating.”

Still, there was good news on the ad fraud front, with the practice slipping down 1.8 per cent to 5.1 per cent.

Check out the infographic above for more info.

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