Google Gains Viewable Impressions Accreditation, Viewable Ads Double CTR

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Google gained Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for its viewability measurement solution, Active View, which it introduced last year.

Marketers intuitively believe that consumers will more likely click on a viewable ad, but Google now has the data to back up the assertion by comparing ads by the number of seconds they appeared on screen and found on the Google Display Network (GDN).

Viewers are 21 times more likely to click on an ad in view. Publishers often see clickthrough rates doubling, on average, for below-the-fold inventory. On average, Google found that the CTR is comparable for viewable above-the-fold and viewable below-the-fold inventory. The longer users view an ad, the more likely the viewer will click through the advertisement.

Google saw up to a 125% increase when an ad was viewed for more than 20 seconds.

The biggest problem has been confirming with certainty when an online ad impression served on a Web page actually gets viewed by consumers. Technology now makes it possible to measure whether an ad is viewable onscreen.

Active View supports other Google efforts made in digital advertising that brings awareness to campaigns, such as Lightbox ads and TrueView in AdMob and games. These efforts appear to be paying off for brand advertisers: "We saw a 65% increase last quarter alone in the number of brand advertisers using our brand formats and buying tools. Google also turned viewability into what the company calls an "actionable metric," Neal Mohan, vice president of display advertising at Google, wrote in a post.

"Based on Active View, advertisers can buy reservable inventory on the GDN paying only for impressions that meet the Interactive Advertising Bureau's proposed viewability standard, at least 50% on screen for one second or longer," he added.

Aside from the GDN, Active View reporting becomes available in DoubleClick for Advertisers and DoubleClick for Publishers in 2013.

1 comment about "Google Gains Viewable Impressions Accreditation, Viewable Ads Double CTR".
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  1. DG T from Viewthrough Measurement Consortium, May 27, 2013 at 10:15 a.m.

    This is faux news. Of course, when one lowers the denominator by using viewable impressions (instead of served impressions) the CTR will go up. Such slight of hand should be NOTHING NEW to digital marketers and analytics. As expected, a triumph is pronounced that has the unintended consequence of extending the usual use and abuse of CTR as a success metric.

    Discerning readers should note that nowhere in the article is the actual CTR rate mentioned. That is because the usually anemic average of 0.13% (almost the same odds of getting a Full House in Poker) have "doubled" to 0.26% (slightly better than getting a Plain Flush). Nice.

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