The shift from the ‘served’ impression metric to a ‘viewable’ impression standard is one step closer as America’s Media Rating Council (MRC) gives the new metric the green light.

The MRC has today lifted the advisory it first issued in November 2012 on the viewable impression standard as the Viewable Impression Measurement Guidelines are released.

The guidelines, released today, determine that 50% of pixels must be in a viewable section of an internet browser for a minimum of one continues second to be a ‘viewable display impression’.

“The Viewable Impression metric represents a huge step forward in the online advertising landscape,” George Ivie, executive director and CEO MRC, said.

“By adopting this standard for viewable display impressions, the entire marketplace – agencies, marketers and publishers – will benefit from the improved quality and accountability of digital advertising.  This shift will ultimately benefit the entire advertising ecosystem by paving the way to better cross-platform campaign planning and analysis.”

In the statement the MRC said it “advises a gating period remain in place for transacting on Viewable Video Impressions until June 30 2014”.

The MRC and the IAB’s Emerging Innovations Task Force collaborated for more than a year on the new guidelines. The set of rules will be circulated publicly for a 30-day period to allow for any revisions.

They were developed in line with the five guiding principles of digital measurement outlined by the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative which was founded by the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

3MS was also founded by the Association of National Advertisers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

So far 11 vendors have been accredited by the MRC for their viewability solutions.

To educate the market about the impending changes a new website has been created as well as a video (above).

For more on the changes see the IAB’s blog ‘Viewability Has Arrived’ here.