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ABC Viewability Certification November 2015 1*Mincidis sincimporro expedic tionet

Viewability Certification Promoting transparency in viewability measurement

November 2015 www.abc.org.uk/viewability

ABC Viewability Certification November 2015 2

Why you should read this reportEvery year, advertisers pay for online advertising which is never seen.

To better understand how much advertising is being seen, viewability measurement products have been developed and widely adopted by the industry. These products aim to count how many viewable impressions are served as part of a campaign.

However there has been much industry debate around how a viewable impression (or viewability) is defined, and confusion over how viewability products work. There are also reporting discrepancies across these products.

The UK media industry, through JICWEBS, has set out to reduce discrepancies and raise the transparency of a product’s ability to measure viewable impressions. Importantly, it supports a flexible definition of what a viewable impression is. This means that the measure of how much of the ad (percentage coverage) was in view and how long it was in view for, can be changed. This enables the industry to trade using an appropriate viewable impression definition on a campaign by campaign basis.

This, ABC’s second Viewability report compares six viewability products simply and transparently to bring greater trust and clarity to online advertising.

This report shows:

• What viewability is and why it’s a challenge for the industry

• How the industry is bringing transparency and trust through JICWEBS and the Viewability Principles

• Who has been tested by ABC to these Principles

• What scenarios they have been tested in

• The results of these tests

Who are JICWEBS?JICWEBS (The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards) is made up of representatives from ISBA, the IPA, IAB UK, AOP and the NMA. It was created by the UK and Ireland media industry to ensure independent development of standards and benchmarking of best practice for online ad trading.

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Clearly, the viewability debate is a key element of our call for transparency in digital ad trading. Dealing with discrepancies in the

numbers is necessary now, and media buyers and our

partners need to have a clear understanding of the

differences in the capabilities of these viewability

products. We support the JICWEBS principles and

applaud the work done by ABC in delivering increased

transparency.

Rob Norman, Chief Digital Officer,

GroupM


Viewability explainedViewability is an online advertising metric that aims to track only the ad impressions that can actually be seen by users. In other words, was there an opportunity for the advert to be viewed and make an impact for the advertiser?

Viewability products give advertisers valuable reporting on viewable ad impressions, so play a vital role in ensuring advertisers only pay for ads that have been seen, optimising their use of budgets.

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Viewability will remain a key issue for brands if they are to continue to increase their spending on online advertising.As long as advertising depends on reaching human viewers, success pivots on the ability of an audience to see ads but there

is still confusion over the measurement of this area. ABC’s Viewability Report offers transparency and clarity in what is a very technically complex area and we

welcome any advance in understanding in what viewability measurement products are actually delivering.

Bob Wootton, Director of Media and Advertising, ISBA

The plug-in might not be supported

There might be ad-blockers

The ad may be triggered by fraudulent i.e. non-human activity

The ad might not load in time

The ad may load out of view

There are many reasons why an advert can’t be seen:


What does this report cover?This report covers the results of the ABC Certification programme for the second round of testing completed in October and November 2015 against the JICWEBS Viewability Product Principles (Version 2, effective July 2015).

These products were tested:

ABC’s testing is specifically designed to ensure that all products are being tested on a ‘like for like’ basis. This has been achieved by applying automated testing within a ‘walled garden’ environment against seven behaviour scenarios across four commonly used combinations of browser and operating systems.

Complementary to the MRC/IAB requirements and recommendations, the ABC testing reflects the requirement for the products to take time

measurements every 100 milliseconds. It also requires that they measure both standard and larger formats (i.e. IAB rising star formats) for at least 50% or 30% in-view (respectively) for at least one continuous second.

Importantly, and new for this round of testing, the products were also required to provide disclosures on how they perform in relation to the Principles.

What are the JICWEBS Viewability Principles?JICWEBS issued its first set of Viewability Principles in 2014 when the industry was struggling to understand the variances in Viewability measurement. These Principles were updated in 2015 for the latest round of testing and cover four main areas:

1 Reporting % of ad viewable and time ad viewable

2 Reporting viewable impressions (inc. special cases)

3 A disclosure of what is being measured (the advert or the area)

4 The measurement and asset render requirements of the products

More at www.JICWEBS.org

vCE Validation

DigitalMAI™ Visibility

Digital Impression Quality - Ad Viewability

Viewability

Ad Attention Manager

Moat Analytics

What does the testing and certification involve?


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As digital media evolves, new technology is enabling increasingly sophisticated ways to buy media. It’s also allowing those involved to understand more about where

and how advertising is being served. The viewability of ads is one important aspect of this, and a good proactive start for the industry is for an independent check to be introduced.

ABC is ideally suited to carry this out.

Pete Robins, Founder, agenda21

We tested those behaviours in these browsers and operating systems:

Ad is served within multiple (up to 3) cross-domain IFRAMEs

Browser is moved off screen

Page is scrolled

Browser is resized

Opening another browser hides existing browser

Opening another tab hides existing tab

Opening another application causes browser to lose focus

Firefox Windows

Chrome Windows

IE11 Windows

Safari OS X

We test for 7 different behaviour scenarios


PRODUCT DISCLOSURES

JICWEBS Principle:

2.2 Are there any scenarios where modelling is used to estimate viewability instead of the product measuring it directly?

2.3 Are any user-initiated actions, such as clicks, used as a proxy for viewability? If yes, explain the steps taken to ensure that counting such actions does not inflate counts.

3 Is the ad itself or the ad container measured?

4 At what point does the measurement of viewability occur in relation to the ad rendering, i.e. whether pre, during or post delivery of the content creative?

vCE Validation

None used in vCE Validation. The product reports on all impressions that it measures

None used The ad itself Measurement is determined post the ad creative loading


None used None used The ad container Measurement is determined either before, during or after the ad creative loading, depending on implementation

Digital Impression

Quality – Ad Viewability

For cross domain iFrames in chrome and safari browsers, DoubleVerify uses placement-level modelling to measure viewability data

None used The ad itself Measurement is determined during the ad creative loading

Viewability

None used None used The ad itself or the ad container, depending on implementation

Measurement is determined either before, during or after the ad creative loading, depending on implementation


None used None used The ad itself Measurement is determined post the ad creative loading

Moat Analytics

None used None used The ad itself Measurement is determined post the ad creative loading

Here are the results of the disclosures and tests


Browser and Operating Systems

Product Ad Format 1 – Ad is served within multiple (up to 3) cross-domain

IFRAMEs

2 – Browser is moved off screen

3 – Page is scrolled 4 – Browser is resized 5 – Opening another browser hides existing

browser

6 – Opening another tab hides existing tab

7 – Opening another application causes

browser to lose focus

comScore

vCE Validation

Standard Desktop Display

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Large Desktop Display


DMA Institute






DoubleVerify

Digital Impression



Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes



Integral Ad Science

Viewability





Meetrics






MOAT

Moat Analytics





comScore

vCE Validation


Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Not Tested Yes



DMA Institute






DoubleVerify

Digital Impression



See Product Disclosure 2.2

Yes Yes Yes No Not Tested Yes



Yes Yes Yes No Not Tested Yes

Integral Ad Science

Viewability





Meetrics






MOAT

Moat Analytics





Firefox Windows

Chrome Windows


Browser and Operating Systems

Product Ad Format 1 – Ad is served within multiple (up to 3) cross-domain

IFRAMEs

2 – Browser is moved off screen

3 – Page is scrolled 4 – Browser is resized 5 – Opening another browser hides existing

browser

6 – Opening another tab hides existing tab

7 – Opening another application causes

browser to lose focus

comScore

vCE Validation





DMA Institute






DoubleVerify

Digital Impression






Integral Ad Science

Viewability





Meetrics






MOAT

Moat Analytics





comScore

vCE Validation


Yes Not Tested Yes Yes Not Tested Not Tested Not Tested



DMA Institute






DoubleVerify

Digital Impression




Not Tested Yes Yes Not Tested Not Tested Not Tested



Not Tested Yes Yes Not Tested Not Tested Not Tested

Integral Ad Science

Viewability





Meetrics






MOAT

Moat Analytics





IE11 Windows

Safari OS X


General findings

The main takeaway from ABC’s recent testing is that, when configured correctly, all six products are capable

of counting viewable impressions in accordance with the JICWEBS Principles for the scenarios tested.

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ABC has helped the industry move towards a more transparent digital trading environment. These six companies have demonstrated their commitment

to raising trust around viewability products. We look forward to more companies joining this scheme.

Nigel Gwilliam, Consultant Head of Media, IPA

Overall the testing showed that, when configured correctly, all six products are capable of counting viewable impressions in accordance with the JICWEBS Principles for the scenarios tested.

The importance of being ‘configured correctly’ in this statement is key. The products work in a variety of different ways therefore, if not configured correctly, the results are potentially misleading and you’ll continue to see discrepancies. ABC suggests that people

implementing these products take the time to understand how this is done effectively to ensure they’re benefiting from the full capabilities these products have.

For an interactive table of these results and the individual Certificates which provide further detail please visit www.abc.org.uk/viewability


comScore“comScore is committed to developing products that create trust and transparency across the advertising ecosystem. We are proud to be recognised by ABC for passing every criteria on their rigorous certification process and will continue to build innovative solutions that create confidence in a complex environment.” Duncan Trigg, comScore Vice President of Advertising Effectiveness

DMA Institute“We are proud to have been rewarded the globally recognised ABC Viewability Certification for DMA Institute’s proprietary technology, DigitalMAI™ Visibility across all tested categories including the large ad formats. With this important professional acknowledgement, DMAi’s Partners are assured integrity and transparency in DMAI’s delivery of media intelligence needs.” Marcel Vogels, CEO DMA Institute

DoubleVerify“Attaining ABC certification for the second year reaffirms the quality of the DoubleVerify viewability solution and the value that it delivers in the marketplace. At DV we’re committed to helping build the confidence and value in the digital media ecosystem, and to build a better industry for all to benefit.” Wayne Gattinella, CEO and President, DoubleVerify

Integral Ad Science“We are proud to be re-certified for our viewability technology for both display and large format ads. ABC certification gives confidence to the industry that vendors’ technology is meeting robust auditing standards. This latest accreditation marks a significant step forward for the industry in addressing discrepancy concerns and accurate measurement of widely adopted ad formats.” Phillip Hayman, Head of Sales Engineering EMEA, Integral Ad Science

Meetrics“We are very pleased to receive the ABC Certification without any technical limitation which underlines the quality of our solution. We agree in the importance to count on these rigorous guidelines allowing our industry to transact on reliable figures. It is another strong move towards transparency, trust and in particular establishing a new currency based on viewability.” Anant Joshi, Director of International Business, Meetrics London

Moat “We are thrilled to once again receive ABC Certification in the UK. Having gotten perfect scores on the certification testing two years in a row, we are proud to continue driving innovation on behalf of our clients and the industry.” Jonah Goodhart, Co-Founder and CEO of Moat Inc.


Jargon buster:

Viewable ImpressionAn ad delivered onto a web page which has had the opportunity to be seen.

AssetThe item (e.g. an ad banner) which is having its viewability measured.

Viewability Whether something can be viewed (is visible) or not.

BrowserA computer program with a graphical user interface for displaying HTML files, used to navigate the internet.

Browser Window The movable area containing the browser. The browser window can contain more than one tab.

TabBrowsers can open multiple pages at once by putting each page in its own sheet (tab).

Rendering The process of generating an ad in a browser.

HTMLHyperText Markup Language is the standard language used to create web pages.

IAB Rising Star formatsRecommended ad formats from the IAB to maximise advertising impact online.

IFRAMEShort for ‘inline frame’, is an area within a web page that contains content served from a different source (e.g. an advertisement) to the rest of the page.

In focus The application, window or tab that is active (upper most) and visible.


About ABC

ABC’s stamp of trust underpins the way billions of pounds worth of advertising are traded across the converging media landscape in the UK and beyond.

ABC has two key roles:1. To bring the industry together to agree standards that

define media measurement and determine industry-agreed best practice.

2. To offer independent audit and compliance services, delivering certification which verifies that data and processes meet the industry-agreed Standards.

ABC is governed by the industry, for the industry. ABC’s board consists of advertisers, media agencies, media owners and trade bodies.They represent the differing interests of the media industry and meet regularly to agree new standards and make strategic decisions as to how ABC is run. With Board consensus, ABC has the ability to provide certification for any platform. As advertising platforms develop, ABC continually innovates and evolves to ensure its portfolio of products and services delivers to the media industry’s needs.

ABC UK was established in 1931 and is a founder member of the International Federation of ABC (IFABC). Richard Foan, Group Executive Director of Communication & Innovation, ABC UK, also chairs JICWEBS.org and the IFABC Web Standards Group, which works to deliver standards and establish good practice across the world.

For further information please visit www.abc.org.uk/viewability and www.JICWEBS.org

Published by

ABC, Saxon House, 211 High Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. HP4 1AD.

Tel: +44 (0)1442 870800 Email: [email protected]

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