• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, May 6, 2014

The NewFronts were great, digital video ad dollars are rising, and brands are taking original video quite seriously.

Next stop on the online video train? Viewability.

With nearly two-thirds of marketers planning to spend more money on digital video ads this year than last, the industry has clearly matured. But brands continue to say the area that most needs work is viewability.

For online video to draw more dollars from TV, cable and other premium video budgets, it’s  going to need to make some improvements. Ad management platform Vindico said recently that only 34% of online video impressions were on a par with TV in terms of video ad environment quality, meaning the ads were user-initiated, delivered in a large player and were easily viewable. But in many cases, ads are placed in less than ideal situations, such as below the fold, included in inappropriate content, or delivered in a banner. Major media sites fared best, with 78% of ads on them viewable, while networks and exchanges were lowest at 37%.

However, expect more headway this year in viewability matters. The Media Ratings Council and the Interactive Advertising Bureau recently defined a standard for viewability, with specific guidelines about how ads display, and many video ad firms are adding in more viewability tools.

Brightroll said recently that it’s partnering with a number of independent measurement companies to layer in third-party data and viewability reporting into campaigns it runs at no extra cost.

Video ad platform TubeMogul is another prominent player that’s working hard to push viewability standards and is using open-source technology to measure whether ads are in view.

For online video to keep growing, marketers are going to need to know their ads were seen.
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