• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, January 15, 2014

How do you create more space for digital ads when consumers are limited to an 11-to-22-inch screen?

Just add some time to it.

WebSpectator, a real-time ad exchange that measures a consumer’s time spent viewing ads, on Wednesday announced it has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for its “guaranteed time slot” (GTS) advertising metric. The metric was first unveiled at ad:tech New York.

The company has also received MRC accreditation for its viewability offering and variations of its GTS offering. The GTS metric is meant for publishers, and is the first of its kind to be accredited. 

André Parreira, the company's CEO, stated that the accreditation “introduces time as a new dimension for digital media.”

As consumers don’t spend all of their time on a Web page looking at ads, there is only a certain amount of time that each ad is effective. WebSpectator claims to be able to measure -- up to the millisecond -- the "effective time" that audiences spend looking at an ad.

Using this data, publishers can then re-auction inventory that has used up its "effective time." Publishers can multiply the amount of ads served in a single ad slot until the user leaves the page. All of the trading -- even for an ad slot that is being re-sold -- is done via real-time bidding (RTB).

“This tech opens the floodgates for digital brand advertising, which could have big revenue implications for publishers,” a company representative told RTM Daily.

That’s not just wishful thinking. Brasil Telecom-owned ISP iG has used WebSpectator and claims to have seen an increase in digital brand marketing spend as a result. In addition, the company claims it dramatically increased CPMs from $1 - $1.50 to $18 - $20.

It's noteworthy that WebSpectator received MRC accreditation on its first try. In a statement, George Ivie, executive director and CEO of the MRC, called the method of selling inventory “innovative.”