IAB Urges Caution on Viewability Measurement

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released a paper underlining the transitional state of viewability measurement, and says advertisers should not expect media to show that 100% of ads charged for were viewable. For the moment, it suggests figures below 70% should trigger compensation.

In a paper entitled 'State of Viewability Transaction 2015', the IAB has described the forthcoming year as one of 'transition', and called on ad agencies, publishers, marketers, and ad technology companies to work together to assure the new currency can be implemented by all companies in the digital advertising ecosystem.

The paper reiterates a statement made in October by the Media Rating Council (MRC) that it is 'unreasonable for advertisers, agencies and publishers implementing viewable impressions as measurement currency to expect to observe viewable rates of 100% in analyses of their campaigns'.

The figure of 70% reflects the current situation where 'measurement vendors produce campaign level viewability data that publishers observe can vary as widely as 30% to 40%.'

Randall Rothenberg (pictured), IAB President and CEO, commented: 'It's time to set the record straight about what is technically and commercially feasible, in order to get ourselves on an effective road to 100% viewability and greater accountability for digital media. The MRC said it best - 100% is currently unreasonable. Why? Because, different ad units, browsers, ad placements, vendors and measurement methodologies yield wildly different viewability numbers. Publishers, agencies, marketers, and ad tech companies can resolve these differences by working collaboratively to make measurement make sense. We won't do it by holding guns to each other's heads.'

To foster stronger collaboration, the IAB recommends that marketers, agencies, and publishers adhere to seven principles, which can be found at: www.iab.net/viewability .