• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, April 4, 2016

Integral Ad Science on Monday announced that AudienceScience will add Integral’s performance-matching video viewability targeting segments to its platform. AudienceScience, which offers advertisers control of their audience data and digital media within a closed-loop, transparent environment, was among the first to beta-test the new video viewability segments. MediaMath and Tremor Video have also announced plans to integrate the new segments. 

Viewability is a frequently discussed metric in digital advertising and with good reason. An estimated $7.7 billion was spent on digital video ads in 2015, according to eMarketer, with $2.62 billion of that spent on mobile video ads. Simply put: Marketers want their ads to be seen. There have been obstacles to video viewability measurement including accounting for starts and stops, completion rates in-view and whether the sound on an ad is turned on or off.

Integral’s pre-bid targeting segments are built to be integrated into a demand side platform (DSP).  Buyers, such as brands and agencies, can select the segment to target on viewable video inventory.

“Our video viewability targeting segments allow advertisers to target a specific baseline (such as 50%+) which is unique in the marketplace,” Harmon Lyons, vice president of business development, Integral Ad Science, told Real-Time Daily via email. “For an advertiser that wants to transact on viewability, or negotiate a guarantee, this is a tool they can use. It allows them to set a baseline for their team and media partners, and be confident that they will achieve their goal,” Lyons said.

The new segments will offer AudienceScience customers access to Integral’s data-rich technology with the goal of offering accurate video viewability targeting. “These video viewability pre-bid signals provide us a mechanism to efficiently optimize our video campaigns for viewability,” Michael Greene, vice president, business development, AudienceScience, said via email. “It’s critical for us to have these signals from a neutral third party like Integral versus from just the exchange/publisher or clients’ domain reporting."