the case for viewable impressions

04/08/2023

The Case for Viewable ImpressionsPutting the Count in AccountabilityPeter Naylor, EVP Digital Media Advertising, NBCUniversalpeter.naylor@nbcuni.com@prnaylor

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“There are over 4 trillion display ads served per year now. The truth is, however, a huge chunk of them is never seen by any humans.”

— The Viewable Impression Sea Change, 7/25/12

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Today’s Definition of an ImpressionAn impression is counted when it leaves the ad server

> Ad >Impressio

n Counted

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A Few Reasons Why An Impression Served May Not Be An Impression Seen

user scrolls away too quickly

ad never fully renders user immediately clicks away

below the fold: user never scrolls down to

it

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The Viewable Impression: Moved From Counting Ads That Are Served To Ads That Are Seen

> Ad >Impressio

n Counted

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Proposed Viewable Impression DefinitionAn impression is viewable if at least half the ad is viewed in a browser for at least one second

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Key Constituencies Agree on the NeedThe move to viewable impressions is being championed as a key tenet of 3MS by the boards of the ANA, 4A’s and IAB as the new industry standard

3MS | Making Measurement Make Sense

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Industry PrecedentThe move to audience/viewable impression is already underway

Radio Handwritten Diaries Personal People Meter: Guarantees made on cumulative RQH rating

Out-Of-Home Car Counts Eyes-on-impressionsAudience Views

Television Program Ratings GRP/TRP/C3; guarantees

on gross impressionsPrint Gross Impressions to

eyes-on-impressionsOngoing MPA initiative to provide timely issue specific audience data

From To

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Viewable Impressions Deliver Consistent MetricsThe move to viewable impressions makes digital more consistent with other media and is in line with initiatives to improve quality, confidence and comparability in metrics industry-wide.

Viewable ImpressionConsistent Metric

Apples-to-Apples AnalysisEqual Footing

Common Currency

brand advertisers have the confidence and security to move forward with placing more ad dollars with digital media

NET EFFECT:

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Viewable Impressions Deliver the Common Currency Buyers Want

“[The viewable impression] is the most realistic view of internet ads that will move the business… It’s a new currency that we can organize around.”— David Cohen, Chief Media Officer, Universal McCann + Chair of the 4A's Interactive-Media Council

“[Viewable Impressions] allow for easy comparison between digital and TV.”— Rick Hosfield, VP Content Planning & Distribution, General Mills

“We have to learn to speak the same language with online and offline if we want to move packaged-goods business to interactive. We've got to start with the same definition.”— John Montgomery, Chief Operating Officer, Group M Interaction

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Stage 1 Pilot in Field TodayTesting structure in place to validate measurement with small number of publishers to test technical feasibility.

Managing Agency-Marketer pilots with billions of impressions.Ad server & vendors underway in testing technology

Publisher-provided inventory

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Vendors Have Reported a Wide Range of Viewable Estimates:

comScore Definition: 50% of banner in view for at least 1 second

Source: comScore, The Future in Focus, 12/11

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Vendors Have Reported a Wide Range of Viewable Estimates:

Source: RealVu, 12/11

RealVu Definition: 60% of banner in view for at least 1 second

Served Impression

s

Highest Viewability Campaign

Lowest Viewability Campaign

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Unveiled ServeView™ in Q42010“Viewable Impressions” on msnbc.com experienced record-breaking engagement

msnbc.com CTR reflects average across all available performance data for a given ad size.

The “viewable” ad ecosystem produces more ROI; and ad dollars producing

more ROI, beget larger budgets.

ServeView™ Launch Observations▪ Initial ~30% drop in ad inventory

▪ Huge increase in ad effectivenesswith “bad” impressions removed

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Among First to Test Viewable Impressions▪ Teamed up with Horizon Media and RealVu to test

viewable impressions campaigns▪ Several test campaigns launched in May 2012 with

Horizon Media clients ▪ Campaigns employed RealVu Technology – ensuring that

only viewable impressions would be delivered

“We want to make it clear that not every impression is created equal. We need to level set...”

─ Lisa Valentino, VP, Digital Ad Sales at ESPN in AdWeek, May 15, 2012

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Finance Site Seeking Alpha Offers VCPM InventoryAims to identify ads as 100% viewable“We recognize that there are many publishers you can purchase ads from, including DSPs and networks, however do you really know what you are purchasing and how many of your ads are actually in-view? Seeking Alpha is a site designed for performance."

Joseph Porcellini, Vice President of Sales, Seeking Alpha, MediaPost, July 19th, 2012

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Ad Visibility Vendors Proliferate

Sources: IAB, Marketing Measurement Make Sense; Adometry, The Evolving World of Ad Verification; RealVu, Description of Methodology; Media Rating Council, Accredited Services[1] Marking Measurement Make Sense {3MS} is the measurement initiative that is a joint undertaking of the ANA, The 4A’s and the IAB

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Concerns & ImplicationsPublishers take on burden of cost/lost impressionsART: Design Implications

▪ Page views (editorial) vs. Ad views (revenue)▪ Opportunity to deploy IAB Rising Stars?▪ Appify Sites? One ad per page/no scrolling?

SCIENCE: Need to address multiple ad technology issues▪ i-frames, auto-refresh, ad weight, data, etc.

POTENTIAL RISK▪ The viewable impression is coming. Who is ready?

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Viewable Impressions: Online Display is Growing UpPeter Stabler, Senior Analyst, Wells Fargo, September 5, 2012▪ “Potential change of transactional currency a major

positive for brand marketers”▪ “We view marketers as the leading beneficiaries of

viewable impressions as better data should fuel better media planning decision making and confidence in the media type.”

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Thank You!Peter Naylorpeter.naylor@nbcuni.com@prnaylor