2. 360i fully embraces the efforts being made by 3MS to advance the cause for better measurement and
standardization in digital media. Viewability is a pivotal component that will allow marketers to collectively evolve
into a more apples-to-apples cross channel attribution system, which is the Holy Grail of successful marketing.
This report will outline the challenge of viewability and share key results from the pilot program.
Introduction: What is Viewability?
Online advertising has pressed for progress in nearly every medium when it comes to driving advanced
accountability and trackability, but there is one area where the industry has fallen blatantly short – ad viewability.
What is the value of an online ad unit if no one ever sees it? This challenge is the chief reason why 3MS was
established in 2011.
As you consider the origins of viewability as a meaningful metric, take a look at the screenshot below, which shows
the bottom third of the CNN.com homepage. If a user never scrolls all the way down the page, he or she will never
see these ad units. Yet standard ad-serving technologies still count this ad load as an impression, and potentially
assign conversion credit on a post-view basis – regardless of whether the ad was truly ever in view.
The 3MS initiative was created to enhance and standardize digital metrics and establish a measurement
governance model that allows for cross-platform comparison. As part of this effort, the group has created “5
Guiding Principles of Digital Measurement.” The first principle, regarding a new standard of viewable impressions,
serves as the core focus of this report.
Principle #1 – Move to a “viewable impressions” standard and count real exposures online.
Today we count “served impressions” as recorded by ad servers. Often, ad units are not in a viewable
space to the end-user or fail to fully load on the screen – potentially resulting in substantial over-counting
of impressions. Viewable exposures are increasingly the norm across other media and better address the
needs of brand marketers. (Source: 3MS)
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3. The following section outlines 360i’s participation in the 3MS agency pilot program related to viewability.
About the 3MS Pilot Program
The primary goal of the 3MS initiative is to phase out the industry’s dependence on the ad impressions-served
metric and replace it with the viewable impressions metric.
The viewable impressions metric, as preliminarily defined during publisher pilot programs, focuses on two factors:
area and duration. By this standard, a viewable impression is reported when at least 50 percent of the ad content
on a web page is within the visible area of the viewer's browser window for one second or more.
Supervised by the Media Ratings Council (MRC), the agency-focused pilot was designed to uncover and address
several aspects of the proposed transition to a viewable impression. The pilot was designed to assess advertiser
campaigns in live environments and test viewable impression parameters in order to better understand
measurement limitations. Several agencies were selected to participate (including 360i), alongside measurement
and ad serving providers, during a trial period in May-June 2012. MRC provided pilot management support and
unbiased analysis of the pilot results.
A total of 17 advertisers and 12 agencies participated in pilot across 22 campaigns, representing more than 3
billion served impressions that ran in variety of different environments.
Results & Reactions
Data released by the MRC to pilot participants revealed the following key findings.
1. Viewability rates – or, the percentage of impressions for which the viewable/non-viewable status
was determined – varied widely by campaign; from a high of 78.6 percent to a low of 7.3 percent. The
graph below shows varying viewability rates across 22 campaigns measured in this study.
Viewable Rate
100%
90%
78.6%
80%
66.6% 68.1% 67.1%
70%
58.3% 57.4% 58.3%
60%
50% 43.7%
41.1% 43.4% 44.3%
38.3% 38.4% 38.4%
40% 33.7%
26.7% 27.1%
30% 21.0%
14.7% 15.1% 15.7%
20%
7.3%
10%
0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Campaign
2. The percentage of served impressions measured for viewability ranged from a low of 0 percent to
a high of 76.7 percent. Note: In this chart, the X-axis still represents campaigns, but this time using
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4. letters since the chart above and this one are not one-to-one. Some participants sharing viewability results
did not share measurability results, resulting in a discrepancy in the total number of campaigns tracked.
Measured Rate
100%
90%
76.7%
80%
68.5%
70% 62.9%
59.7%
60%
50%
40% 34.1% 32.9%
26.0% 27.3%
30%
17.2% 15.7% 16.1%
20% 14.4% 12.6%
10% 0.0%
2.8%
0%
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
Campaign
3. Cross-domain iFrames presented a significant challenge to viewability measurement; they were the
cause of the 73.1 percent of the unmeasured impressions in Network and 37.3 percent of unmeasured
impressions in Publisher placements.
Unmeasured Impressions Percentage within Cross-Domain iFrames
100%
90%
26.9%
80%
70% 62.7%
60%
50%
40%
73.1%
30%
20% 37.3%
10%
0%
Network Placements Publisher Placements
% in iFrames % not in iFrames
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5. 4. Network placements in pilot programs generally had lower measured and viewable rates.
Network Placements vs. Publisher Placements
60% 55.2%
50%
40%
32.1%
30% 26.8%
18.9%
20%
10%
0%
Measured Rate Viewable Rate
Network Placement Publisher Placement
5. Viewable rates in pilot programs varied by ad size.
Viewable Rates by Ad Unit Size
70% 63.7%
58.8%
60%
52.5%
49.0%
50%
40.0%
40%
30%
19.8%
20%
12.6%
10%
0.0%
0%
160x600 180x150 300x250 728x90
Network Placement Publisher Placement
The number of impressions that could not be measured for viewability poses a significant problem. Across some
campaigns, that figure exceeded the number of viewable and non-viewable impressions combined. Measured
impression rates showed no similarities across campaigns and were very low in some cases.
The majority of unmeasured impressions were the result of cross-domain iFrames, due to the viewable impression
code being served through a different domain than the publisher’s site. If the domain of the iFrame is different from
the domain of the page, the impression is not measurable. Network placements were affected more negatively by
cross-domain iFrames than the publisher placements.
Moreover, a portion of unmeasured impressions could not be attributed to any known fact. Other contributing
factors to the unmeasurable served impressions were that not all viewable vendors met the 17 validation criteria,
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6. or the viewable decision tags failed to “fire.” In addition to the problem of measurability, campaigns’ viewability
rates varied greatly across campaigns, suggesting that strategies to maximize viewability have a long way to go.
The pilot revealed the challenges ahead and underscored the need for further investigation before viewable
impressions can become an accepted metric across the industry. Like all aspects of digital advertising, measuring
viewability is a technical challenge that requires perfecting before marketers can accurately and confidently
calculate the impressions that are truly viewable. In the case of not being able to measure served impressions 100
percent, the industry will need to come to a level of measurability that is at least projectable. Currently, there are
too many unknowns to make informed projections.
Measuring viewability is also an accountability challenge. Unfortunately, not all vendors participating in the pilot
were able to meet the validation criteria. Maximizing viewability will not only require additional studies, but the
assurance that viewability measurers are validated under and held to strict guidelines. As more served
impressions can be measured for viewability, a fuller understanding of viewability rates and the finalization of an
industry standard will be in closer reach.
Implications
This pilot program is just one phase of the overall evolution that 3MS is hoping to accomplish. The following are
what we perceive to be the short and long-term implications of this pilot program on both the digital industry and
the overall media landscape:
Near-term implications:
1. Key players will push adoption of viewability. Even before the agency pilot program wrapped, industry
leaders in research and measurement has already begun to push usage of the new metric. For example,
comScore is working with agencies on partnerships that incorporate viewability into campaign
measurement, and AdSafe is also offering a viewability product. Even some publishers, such as ESPN,
are experimenting with viewable currency models. As more credible vendors promote this concept,
viewability will become a part of our industry’s common vernacular.
2. Marketers will benefit from enhanced optimization and negotiation tools. For both brand and direct
response-oriented campaigns, marketers will have new insight into their display investment. Brand
advertisers who pay premium CPMs for high-quality inventory will be able to ensure that their investments
are garnering strong ad view (and publishers will be able to adjust CPMs accordingly). The effects will be
more palpable for direct response campaigns, where ad viewability proved to fall at lower percentages
due to the relatively low viewability rates for networks as compared to premium publishers (32 vs. 55
percent).
Media professionals would be well-served to compare their network viewability levels against their
conversion-oriented results. If a correlation exists, this is something that can be used for strategic
optimizations designed to enhance the efficiencies of the campaign. As less wasteful ad impressions are
served, potential monetary savings on the ad serving front may be achieved, and ultimately less
conversion overlap.
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7. Long-term implications:
1. Ad technologies will evolve to allow for better measures of viewability. As noted above, one of the
more unintended findings from the pilot program was the extreme gap in measurable vs. unmeasurable
impressions. Since this is the basic foundation for widespread adoption of viewability standards, the IAB is
working to resolve issues related to cross-domain iFrames that render viewability impossible. The solution
currently under way is a “safe iFrame,” which the IAB intends to release on Nov. 5, and has already begun
distributing to agency ad operations teams, including that of 360i.
2. The industry will migrate towards the digital GRP. According to the 3MS website, as early as
November 2012, marketers should begin to see digital gross rating points (GRPs) take form beyond some
initial experimented use by comScore (vGRP) and Nielsen (eGRP). The IAB predicts broad industry
adoption by April 2013. This will only be possible with the adoption of a standardized viewable impression
metric.
3. Publishers and agencies will begin to favor scarcity. An enormous positive outcome that will stem
from this new way of thinking about ad impressions is that the industry will shift its current approach to the
monetization of online real estate. A recent ClickZ article highlights an interesting notion that traditional
advertisers are well accustomed to, which is that the finite universe of TV inventory is what commands its
high CPMs. Conversely, the seemingly boundless display impression universe has translated to a system
where online advertising has perhaps “overmonetized” its real estate, thus driving overall CPMs
downwards. As marketers begin to press for a higher level of confirmed viewable ad impressions, we will
ultimately de-emphasize waste and re-prioritize only the most valuable inventory.
While the possibility of a more seamless integration of cross-channel metrics is a huge boon for marketers, it’s
important to not overlook what just might be the most profound potential impact of a new viewability metric: how it
may change the experience for consumers. As this industry matures, much like other mediums have had to do,
there comes a time to reassess and perhaps “un-think” some of the bad habits developed over time – for online
advertising, this means cluttered web pages. Viewability has the potential to shift the entire way of thinking around
how a website is designed and optimized for a positive ad experience.
As a practical move forward, 360i will be actively incorporating measurement tools and technologies into media
recommendations as appropriate for clients and will continue to monitor the space for any further outcomes
stemming from this pilot program.
Next Steps
Our recommendations for some quick wins that marketers can take as far as incorporating viewability into their
campaigns are as follows:
Prioritize campaigns which are heavily direct response-oriented. These are the campaigns where the
highest shortfall in viewability was evident.
Partner with a research company who offers a viewable impression validation suite. Both RealVu
and comScore are accredited by the MRC, and others have actively participated in the pilot indicating they
are likely to follow.
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8. Factor viewed impressions into optimizations. While it may be a longer road towards negotiating
based on a paid viewed impression, marketers and agencies are in the driver’s seat in terms of controlling
campaign budgets.
About 360i
360i is an award-winning digital marketing agency that drives results for Fortune 500 marketers through insights,
ideas and technologies. 360i helps its clients think differently about their online presence and evolve their
strategies to take advantage of the new world of marketing communications – one where brands and consumers
engage in interactive and multi-directional conversations. In 2010, Ad Age named 360i to its prestigious Agency A-
List. Current clients include Kraft Foods, JCPenney, Coca-Cola, NBC Universal and Diageo, among others. For
more information, please visit www.360i.com or follow us on Twitter @360i.
Ways To Connect With 360i
360i.com/reports blog.360i.com twitter.com/360i editor@360i.com
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