• by Anita Khosla , February 6, 2015

The topic of viewability has received much attention over the past few weeks, following the announcement by the IAB declaring that 100% viewability measurement is not yet possible. 

There has been plenty of coverage by the press on the obstacles plaguing publishers.  But fortunately, there are also some success stories.  Hulu, recently announced that their adoption of viewability has actually resulted in more ad spend.

The Hulu case study is the ideal everyone is striving toward — advertisers see better metrics, so they increase their budgets, leading to more revenue for the publisher.  But given all the challenges with viewability — inconsistency across vendors, difficulty measuring through iframes, and slow ad delivery — many publishers are disillusioned. 

The seven transaction principles for 2015 outlined by the IAB should take some of the pressure off publishers to achieve viewability “perfection” in a world where the technology is not quite there yet.  What stance should publishers take during this “year of transition?”

Get Up The Learning Curve

Publishers who don’t start to incorporate viewability into their sales process will be at a disadvantage in the long run, so not accepting deals with viewability targets is not the right answer. 

Obviously, given the current state of technology, there are bound to be challenges with measuring and reconciling, but the lower 70% viewability threshold can encourage publishers to test and learn. Getting viewability ingrained in the sales process now will be key to leading in a world where it is the only currency.

Use Data to Your Advantage

There are many analytics tools available to help publishers with forecasting available viewable inventory, analyzing the impact of site changes and pricing/packaging. 

Leveraging these tools can help publishers make informed decisions during this period of transition.  For example, large, immediate increases in pricing for inventory with viewability goals will be likely be rejected by advertisers, but smart packaging of inventory can potentially enable publishers to preserve revenues, even with more limited viewable inventory.

Adopt an Incremental Approach

Publishers need to get comfortable with the fact they may not “get it right” the first time. They will need to be prepared to make changes to their site to optimize for viewability as vendors continue to refine their measurement capabilities. 

But they should make these changes incrementally, ideally in close collaboration with key advertisers and with clear understanding and agreement of the measurement goals they are trying to reach with any redesign.

The shift to viewability is a major business transformation, and like any transformation, is bound to be painful. Publishers need to have confidence that over time, the market will value premium inventory that is engaging. Once that happens, we expect to hear more success stories like Hulu.