• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 5, 2012

DoubleVerify will soon announce a deal that integrates its viewability measurement with Kantar Media Compete's panel data at the user level without tapping into personal identifiable information (PII), according to Mark Pearlstein, senior VP of DoubleVerify, which provides online advertising verification.

The agreement initially supports "user-level" data and behavioral profiles, measuring reach, frequency and exposure. Then it will expand to focus more broadly. "It's different than saying I have metrics claiming the site comprises 82% female or 8.2 females for each 10 people," Pearlstein said. "The building blocks are far stronger when you're measuring the initial user base at the census level and projecting other data on top."

Platform technology providers and research firms continue to push the ability to verify and report on ads that serve up in an iFrame of a browser window. Verification requires 50% or more of the ad being seen in the browser window for at least one second.

The industry also has been focused on "ad collision," which occurs when the same ad serves up simultaneously on the same page. Comments written on an Online Media Daily post summarizing an AdSafe report points to reports that might suggest doubling up on ads per page produces positive brand recall. 

Really, folks? Most reports are self-serving in one way or another, but as a media buyer I wouldn't want the identical ad from my brands serving up on the same page more than once at a  time. Any report that suggests a positive impact likely supports the idea that either the ad isn't in view, but serves up anyway, or there's a better chance the person viewing the Web page will look at one side of the page, but not the other.  

Perlstein said ad collision is a more complicated problem to solve, compared with viewability. ValueClick, AOL, and Tribal Fusion might make independent ad-serving decisions, but because the brand gave each the same targeting criteria all three might serve the same ad on the same publisher's site. He said today there's no safeguards in place to solve the problem.

There are a few theories floating around the industry that would designate specific pages to ad servers. That would solve one problem and create others around reach and frequency. DoubleVerify is working on a solution, but Perlstein said "we're doing the research before we start coding something up to make sure the environment and the ecosystem can handle it architecturally."