• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, June 26, 2015

We cover a slew of topics here in Real-Time Daily that all snake around one other. This includes viewability, ad fraud, programmatic buying and the different devices, including desktop, mobile, tablet, and now TV and radio. There’s also cost and targeting data that needs to be taken into account.

But how all of this cobbles together can be a bit mysterious at times. If we put too much focus on viewability, for example, we belittle the fact that it’s actually just one piece of the puzzle.

SocialCode, an ad analytics company, has released a new model meant to help advertisers understand ad waste. The company has not unveiled some groundbreaking algorithm that changes the game, but it does simplify the oft-convoluted space.

“Let’s focus on cost first,” said Max Kalehoff, chief marketing officer of SocialCode. “Cost is black and white; it’s the lowest hanging fruit for an advertiser to take control of. If you can understand true cost of media investment, then you can have far greater accuracy on understanding attribution and your actual impact.”

The calculator compares the eCPM of linear TV ad buys to guaranteed display, open exchange display, open exchange video, private exchange display and Facebook video. It does so by estimating a variety of factors that impact ad quality, including viewability, percentage of human viewers, accurate targeting and more.

You can fiddle with the tool here yourself (it downloads as an Excel document). It’s another brick in the road toward increased transparency across the board.

“You need to understand the cost of your quality exposures,” said Kalehoff, “And you need to understand it across different channels, so you can make the right decisions for your brand.”