Senior Executives Say IAB Viewability Standards Inadequate

  • Wednesday, September 16th, 2015
  • Author: Tim Maytom
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Viewability-eye.jpgHalf of senior agency and publisher executives believe the viewability standards set by the IAB and Media Rating Council are not sufficient to ensure ads have been viewed by consumers, with this figure rising to nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) for large, non-standard formats like skins and wallpapers.

The figure comes from a study on the present and future of online ad viewability produced by ad tech firm InSkin Media and consultancy FaR Partners (a Theorem Digital company) and shows that the industry is still far from an agreed standard on viewability.

The IABs recent viewability standards state that 50 per cent of an ad has to be in view for at least one second for it to be deemed viewable, but many agency and publisher executives are fighting for higher standards to guarantee engagement.

However, the need for a consistent, effective viewability standard across vendors is still seen as a priority by senior figures, with those surveyed rating it as 8.3 out of 10 in terms of importance to the future of digital marketing.

“The research was prompted after asking several leading vendors to measure the viewability of ISMs non-standard ad formats, according to the current standards,” said Steve Doyle, chief commercial officer of InSkin Media. “The results ranged from a staggering five per cent to 85 per cent, which proves how far we need to go in order to develop consistency in measurement practices and improve standards across the industry.”

Despite this push for consistent standards, opinion is split on whether selling based on viewable impressions will ever happen. While almost 20 per cent of industry figures think it will happen within a year, over half think that brand advertising will never achieve complete selling based on viewability.