THE 614 GROUP VIEWABLE VENDOR STUDY VIEWABILITY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (VIP)

Transcription

1 THE 614 GROUP VIEWABLE VENDOR STUDY VIEWABILITY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (VIP) ORIGINAL VERSION PUBLISHED: JANUARY 2014 UPDATED VERSION PUBLISHED: APRIL 2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

2 FORWARD We wrote this paper as a guide for publishers who, in the year ahead, will make decisions about how they ll implement the viewability metric on their web properties. There are more and more technology, data and services companies now offering viewability solutions, many publishers will need some guidance in choosing a vendor that s right for them. Our goal is to help publishers narrow the pool of vendors by helping them to understand which companies offer services that are aligned with their priorities. In September through November 2013, the 614 Group interviewed leadership from viewability vendors, including spider.io, Alenty, RealVu, C3 Metrics, Integral Ad Science, Meetrics, MediaMind, Moat, and comscore (others were invited to participate but declined). In April 2014, we added DoubleVerify and Onscroll to the report. As a result of those interviews, we developed a vendor philosophy continuum, with a singular focus on data on one end, and strategic collaboration on the other. Next, we plotted each vendor along that continuum based on the services they offer. We cannot stress enough the importance of testing vendors; the wrong choice of vendor can have a significant financial impact on your business. But in order to test properly, you must prepare a set of criteria and establish benchmarks. It s important to note that the 614 Group doesn t recommend one vendor over the other (in fact, we are impressed with all the services we reviewed). 2

3 THE BUYER S PERSPECTIVE To buyers, viewability is an imperative, and in the coming months, many will consider it a minimum requirement for all impressions they ll purchase. Given that buyers are the driving force behind adoption of the metric, we interviewed Ari Bluman, Chief Digital Investment Officer and Joe Barone, Managing Partner, Digital Advertising Operation, both of GroupM, to get their insight. GroupM is the world s largest media advertising company in terms of billing. INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS 614: How many vendors did you test? GroupM: All of them. And we continue to do so. We test across carriers and ad servers. 614: Did you find major discrepancies between your vendors and the publishers vendors? GroupM: There have been a few outliers, but on the whole we ve haven t seen any major differences. 614: What s the most important factor in evaluating vendors? GroupM: By far it s consistency; can a vendor deliver consistency across multiple campaigns? After that, we re interested in other insights beyond viewability these vendors can bring to the table. 614: Why should a publisher care about viewability? And when do you draw the line about buying against the standard? GroupM: An ad that s not seen has no value, period. It s disturbing that we ve gone this long without a viewability standard, and we think it s holding the digital ad industry back as a whole. Once it s fully in place we ll see more trust in the space. It will also start to attack the issue of properly assigning attribution. We agree with the IAB that all inventory buys should be based on viewability, and we re buying inventory based on the standard today. We ve written the standard into our contracts, and now it s just a matter of updating the existing agreements with our clients and vendors. As soon as the MRC gives the go-ahead, viewability will be part of our standard requirements. 614: Should buyers pay more for viewable impressions? GroupM: Pay more? Our clients want to be repaid all of the money they ve spent over the past ten years buying non-viewable impressions! They re not interested in paying more for viewable ads in the future because to them, it simply makes no sense. No one should make money on an ad that s not viewable. Having said that, we may see that the natural supply and demand rules will apply here, and a market with fewer quality impressions will, in theory, demand higher prices for media. 614: Some in the industry are talking about viewable thresholds. What does that mean? GroupM: This is about meeting in the middle; what happens if we can t measure all impressions, what s the minimal amount that s acceptable? This is nothing more than hypothesizing about the viewable measurements, but we re not in that business, we deal more with extreme accuracy. ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PUBLISHERS? Clearly buyers see the viewability metric as a minimal standard for assuring quality impressions, as indicated by GroupM s comment that their clients want a refund for 10 years of non-viewable impressions. Moreover, their impatience with thresholds indicates little tolerance for anything other than exact viewable impression counts. MAKING YOUR VENDOR DECISION Should the concerns of buyers influence your vendor selection? Certainly, buyers as indicated in the above interview are interested in a host of services that will help them launch more effective campaigns, including brand safety, attribution, and understanding user engagement. If you don t already offer the additional services buyers require, you may wish to select a viewability vendor that can help you round out your product line. We also feel it s important to understand which viewability vendors your buyers work with in order to reach consistency in measurement. The challenge, of course, is that you may have many clients, each using vendors across the philosophy spectrum. It is also important to note that the testing process of multiple vendors will pay dividends as you will learn in a general sense how your inventory performs within the spectrum of vendors, valuable data which for your future travels within the world of selling viewable ads. The testing process can take considerable effort, particularly as you consider the number of campaigns, impressions and creatives you ll need to test in order to see how each vendor performs in a realistic simulation of your properties. One final note, be prepared to spend a lot of time explaining your counts to buyers. While GroupM made it clear they expect consistency across campaigns, the viewability vendors believe that such consistency can be difficult at times due to the daily variance in the way campaigns are executed and websites behave. 3

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction a. What is Viewability and Why Does it Matter? b. Viewability Methodologies c. SafeFrame d. Why Do You Need a Viewability Vendor? e. Why Do Vendor Counts Vary? II. Viewability Implementation Plan (VIP) The Viewability Philosophy Continuum III. Vendor Reports (in order of continuum) a. spider.io b. RealVu c. Alenty d. comscore e. Meetrics f. OnScroll g. DG MediaMind h. DoubleVerify i. Integral Ad Science j. c3 Metrics k. Moat 4

5 I. INTRODUCTION WHAT IS VIEWABILITY AND WHY DOES IT MATTER? Over the past 12 months, we ve seen a steady drumbeat of articles and reports proclaiming that advertisers are wasting significant portions of their digital ad spend. The reason? They re paying for ads consumers will never see. In light of all of the advancements we ve seen in tracking digital advertising, it s frustrating that we can t, as an industry, assure advertisers the ads they pay for are, in fact, viewable by the consumer. Viewability seeks to change that. Viewability, as defined by the 3MS Initiative, a joint venture of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), and the 4A s (American Association of Advertising Agencies), requires at least 50% of an ad be visible in the user s browser for at least one second. (In its paper, Being Seen, DataXu points out that the metric can t measure whether or not the ad was actually seen; only that it was placed in such a way that the user had the opportunity to view it). For many in the industry, particularly buyers, viewability is a beginning, not an end. Some see it as a path to accurate attribution; others such as the 3MS Initiative see it as a way to bring buying, selling and measuring digital media in line with other media buys, including television. As a publisher, you ll need to make immediate and long-term decisions as to your priorities with regards to viewability. If your top priority is to simply meet advertiser demand for accurate viewability counts, then some viewability vendors will be more attractive to you than others. If your long-term plan is to add significant value to advertisers including cross-channel measurement and GRPs than other vendors will be of more interest to you. Browser Painting Invented by spider.io, the browser painting methodology relies on browser resource usage to determine if an ad is in view. The browser s rendering engine spikes as it works to show or paint the creative ad. According to spider.io, this approach is uniquely able to measure whether an ad impression is viewable across all major desktop browsers, and to do so without exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities or violating user privacy. The challenge to the browser painting approach is its limited usage, which means discrepancies in viewable counts are inevitable. SAFEFRAME To be sure, cross-domain iframes present a significant challenge to measuring viewability. To assist in meeting this challenge, the IAB developed SafeFrame, a managed API-enabled iframe that opens a line of communication between the publisher page content and the iframe-contained external content, such as an ad. Some vendors, such as spider.io and Moat claim they can see through all browser windows without SafeFrame. This topic is addressed in each of the vendor reviews. More information on SafeFrame can be found on the IAB site. VIEWABILITY METHODOLOGIES Each vendor interviewed has a unique way to measure viewability. Broadly speaking, the viewability methodologies fall into two buckets: Geometric Geometric is the most widely used methodology. Invented by RealVu, the geometric approach uses Java script to retrieve coordinates from the browser to assess the browser view point (i.e. the area of the window that the user can see) as well as the position of an ad to determine if it s in view. The challenge to this approach is that the coordinates aren t standardized across all browsers, which will lead to discrepancies in counts. Moreover, it s difficult to see through cross-domain iframes. 5

6 DO YOU NEED A VENDOR? VIEWABLE AS A CURRENCY. In writing this study, we ve heard publishers question their need for a viewability vendor at all. Why, they wonder, must they incur the additional expense? WHY DO VENDOR COUNTS VARY? Consistency is the Holy Grail of viewability. Buyers and publishers expect to see the same level of viewability across multiple campaigns. Why isn t that the case? The reasons are as plentiful as the vendors themselves: In order to answer this question we must first answer, what does the statement viewable as a currency mean? Historically, campaigns have been bought on a cost per impression basis (CPM) or a derivative of it. Buyers will soon demand to buy inventory based on vcpm, (i.e. pay only for impressions that were in view). In order to track and report on this new metric and compare it to the numbers reported from your advertisers viewability partners you will need a viewability vendor to track this data for you. The truth is, the digital advertising industry relies on confidence. Buyers must be assured that the ads they pay for could actually been seen by consumers. The CPM buying model has shaken this confidence; there have been too many reports demonstrating that up 60% of ads purchased were never in view. And with click fraud estimated at $6 billion annually, marketers have little faith in the click-through rate (CTR). Accreditation Many of the viewability vendors we interviewed have gone through the process of accreditation through the Media Ratings Council (MRC), including spider.io, Alenty, RealVu, comscore, Integral, Moat, and DoubleVerify. Others have begun the process, and are pending accreditation, including DG MediaMind. The accreditation process is important because in order to be considered alongside other forms of media, it must receive an independently validated measurement digital must follow suit. Numerous vendors site the difficulty of measuring viewability in cross-domain iframes C3 Metrics, Integral Ad Science, RealVu, Spider.io and Moat site the difference in methodologies used as a principle source of discrepancies RealVu and Moat believe there is too little disclosure and transparency in how each vendor applies its methodology RealVu believe that to promote standardization, viewability should rest with the publisher, not the advertiser C3 Metrics says that one set of counts comes from the server, while Java script collects a different set of variables to generate a count Integral Ad Science warns that numerous discrepancies will result from fraud Spider.io points out that the level of support by vendor and by browser varies, which will affect counts. The company also says the geometric methodology doesn t work in Chrome. In the years ahead, the industry will attempt to resolve these issues. In the meantime, discrepancies will be inevitable as publishers and advertisers engage viewability vendors to count campaign impressions. While many advertisers will prefer to work with publishers whose viewability vendor has been certified by the MRC, initially there maybe companies that do not understand the value and concept of and accreditation therefore may not deem it a requirement in the shorter term. In our opinion, MRC accreditation will become the norm, and over time, all viewability vendors will need to be accredited. 6

7 II. VIEWABILITY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (VIP) Fully testing viewability vendors will take approximately 8-12 weeks, and will require that you establish a framework to adequately test your vendors. At The 614 Group we have created the VIEWABILITY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (VIP) which features our proprietary testing methodology called VTM ; this turnkey solution provides our clients the turnkey and actionable team to get your company selling viewable quickly. STEP 1: Review Vendor Matrix STEP 4: Finalize List for Testing and Begin Testing Process STEP 7: Identify and Implement Site Optimization Opportunities STEP 2: Stakeholder Interview and Planning STEP 5: Viewability Tag Implementation & Site Readiness STEP 8: Make Final Selection STEP 3: Conduct Onsite Viewability Vendor Interviews STEP 6: Review Reporting & Analytics STEP 9: Educate Sales Team/ Update Contracts and Price Lists As noted earlier, viewability counts will differ by vendor, and the testing phase will help you select the vendor that is able to count the highest number of viewable impressions on your site, as well as explain variances that may occur between the vendor you ultimate select and the vendor your buyers choose. BELOW IS THE OUTLINE OF OUR WORKFLOW: Step 1: Review Vendor Matrix Review 614 Group viewability vendor matrix to determine methodology matches Narrow pool of available vendors for interviews and testing Step 2: Stakeholder Interview and Planning Many internal teams need alignment for success; Identify and establish goals for sales, ad ops, analytics and financial teams. Step 3: Conduct Onsite Viewability Vendor Interviews Interview vendors against your checklist of priorities Step 4: Finalize List for Testing and Begin Testing Process Scope out the framework for your testing process, ensuring you create a test environment that reflects your site s daily traffic environment. Consider: Number of campaigns/impressions to test Types of campaigns/ad units to test Duration of each test Relevant data points Step 5: Viewability Tag Implementation & Site Readiness Identify site requirements for optimizing solutions. Most vendors we interviewed stated that publishers don t need to do a lot of work to ready their sites for testing, though it is a good idea to optimize your site to speed up page loads. Step 6: Review Reporting & Analytics While implementing a solution may be quick and easily, the difficulty lies in making sense of the results you ll see. A key component of this phase will be analytics regarding the relationship between costs and impression counts. You will generate a great deal of data, and it will be important to turn that into actionable insights. Step 7: Identify and Implement Site Optimization Opportunities (sites architecture can lead to more (or less) viewable ads) Identify strategies that will increase viewability on your site and planning implementations are critical steps in the process. Step 8: Make Final Selection Final review of data process documentation, establish ongoing check-ins. Step 9: Educate Sales Team/Update Contracts and Price Lists Educate your sales team on how viewability enhances ad products, and how they should position it in order to justify higher CPMs. 7

8 THE VIEWABILITY PHILOSOPHY CONTINUUM Viewability providers fall within a continuum with vendors who see viewability as a data product within their product suite on one end, and vendors who see viewability as part of a much larger strategic collaboration effort on the other end. We ve identified three fence posts within the continuum: Data Product Viewability as Gateway Strategic Collaboration To determine where your viewability philosophy fits within the continuum, ask: What s your primary goal for viewability? Can you offer the broader range of services your buyers need? (Brand safety, attribution, etc.)? Is a user interface important to you? Viewability as Gateway Meetrics comscore Onscroll DG Media Double Verify Integral Ad Science Alenty RealVu C3 Metrics Moat Spider.io Data Perfection Strategic Collaboration The 614 Group maps the following goals with the following philosophy: GOAL Accurate counts are the top priority: I. Brand safety & other services are already in place II. Accurate billing is key concern Accurate counts, as well as the foundation for other services: III. Ad serving IV. Brand safety V. Last click/last seen attribution VI. Cross channel attribution Accurate counts, along with a suite of strategic services: VII. Understand how readers engage with your content PHILOSOPHY Data Product Viewability as Gateway Strategic collaboration 8

9 III.VENDOR REPORTS SPIDER.IO About spider.io* spider.io bills itself as an anti-malware partner for online advertisers. Their service prevents hijacked PC, tablets and phones being used against third parties in particular, to defraud online advertisers. spider.io also developed the browser painting methodology. The approach involves measuring whether the browser is or is not painting the contents of the ad impression to the user s display. Philosophy MRC Accredited Pricing Data Product Browser Painting None CPM, Fixed *This section supplied directly by vendor. spider.io developed the browser painting approach, and solely uses that approach to measure viewability. Value Proposition spider.io is the first MRC accredited vendor that can see through all major desktop browsers in cross-domain iframes without exploiting unpatched browser vulnerabilities, or violating user privacy. spider.io s malware detection product is able to determine if website visitors are legitimately interacting with website content. Strategy For Resolving Browser Variance Different browsers expose different pieces of information; they make use of what information is available. The information they use to determine if the ad was viewable varies from browser to browser -- in all supported browsers they determine whether the ad was painted to display. Browsers behave differently depending on whether the content of a webpage is painted to a user s display or hidden outside of the browser window. spider.io has a patent application describing the approach which involves measuring these behavioral differences. Each method is driven by the information the browser exposes. The value of the spider.io approach is that it is uniquely able to measure whether an ad impression can be seen by a user across all major desktop browsers without exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities or violating user privacy. Implementation Depending on the client setup we can have clients up and working within hours; for complex setups it may in some cases take up to a week. Ad Server Variances None; solution relies on a JavaScript pixel which is independent of ad servers. Key Differentiators The first MRC provider that can measure across all major desktop browsers in any iframe environment. Method of delivering data; spider.io can deliver granular impression-level data and can deliver realtime data. Measures the length of time the ad is in view, not just whether it was in view for one-second. Pricing CPM or fixed rate, depending on volume of publisher and buyer. 9

10 REALVU About RealVu* RealVu is a patented product offered by Rich Media Worldwide, LLC, a privately held company formed in The company started as a creative shop, and after receiving conflicting reports on impression counts, decided to build its own system for measurement. Today, the company offers the RealVu Viewable Ad Exchange (vrtb), an ad exchange that focuses on viewable ad units, as well as the RealVu Viewable Impression platform. Philosophy MRC Accredited Pricing Data Product Geometric CPM, charged per request The RealVu Viewable Exchange is built on the company s proprietary ad-serving platform, and assesses whether an ad space is viewable prior releasing a bid request. This method allows publishers to get a premium for their viewable inventory before sending all of their remnant impression to the exchanges. The MRC-accredited RealVu Viewable Impression platform distributes advertising based on Viewable Impressions. *This section supplied directly by vendor. RealVu invented a viewability methodology known as Content Rendering Control, which incorporates the geometric methodology. The geometric methodology is based on a patented correlated code that receives messages from the browser, calculates measurements in milliseconds, and sends transmissions back and/or calls the content. The platform determines if an ad space is viewable prior to delivering an ad, helping advertisers eliminate waste and helping publishers optimize inventory and performance. After the ad space is determined viewable, the ad is called or released for bid programmatically. A Viewable Impression may later be measured when the ad content is loaded, rendered and 50% of the ad surface area is within the visible area of a viewer s browser for at least once second. Typically, 80% to 98% of ads delivered are deemed Viewable impressions by third party verification. Value Prop The RealVu Viewable Exchange is built on a proprietary ad serving platform that actually determines if an ad space is viewable before the ad is requested. The RealVu Viewable Impression platform lets publishers manage and optimize the viewable impression landscape and better manage their viewable yield. Viewable ad spaces typically get 30% higher CPMs for publishers and 200% to 300% higher response rates. Further, RealVu helps publishers monetize below the fold inventory by offering an optional feature that holds below the fold ad calls until the unit is scrolled into view, enabling the publisher to charge higher CPMs for inventory and increase revenue. Strategy For Resolving Browser Variance RealVu believes that given the inherent differences among vendors, including transparency, disclosure, timing of tag firing and so on, viewability counting should occur on the publisher s side, not the advertisers. RealVu s solution is a census, not a panel. Implementation For the Viewable Exchange: Publishers set floors and block lists, then RealVu sends tags back to be placed in the publisher ad server or directly on the page. Tags can be set to Delayed call holding calls for below the fold until they are in view, or Express where in view only are sold on the viewable exchange. For Viewable Ad Serving: Publishers send agency creatives to RealVu, who then wraps and sends corresponding RealVu tags back. The RealVu tags are implemented by the publisher in the publisher ad server, just like any creative tag. The implementation takes about ten minutes. Operationally RealVu begins with dry run of a campaign, a process that typically takes two days to complete. Afterwards, RealVu provides a campaign report to the publisher. 10

11 REALVU (CONT) Ad Server Variances None; solution relies on Java script which is independent of any ad server. The company does not believe in cross domain, or blind iframes. If publishers insist on using blind iframes, RealVu will provide a bridge for them. The use of friendly iframes is encouraged by RealVu. Key Differentiators Two patented technologies in the viewability space: Content Rendering Control and File Server Direct Connection (FSDC) The first provider of the viewable impression and the first to be accredited with the viewable impression by the Media Rating Council Delivers viewability results within milliseconds Released a viewability RTB solution through ad exchanges RealVu doesn t use any projections; they maintain a log that measures every ad delivery, and measure if it was viewable or not. If the ad wasn t viewable, it s not reported Pricing CPM based; charge per request. For RTB, RealVu takes a small percentage of CPMs earned for inventory. Questions Heard Most Frequently How many impressions will we lose? What are our view rates? Will we get higher CPMs? 11

12 ALENTY About Alenty* Alenty was founded in 2007 with the express purpose of measuring ad viewability. The company believes that performance-based campaigns drag down CPMs, and ultimately earn higher yields, publishers need to attract the juicy budgets of brand managers. To Alenty, viewability is an absolute requirement for any inventory a publisher wishes to label as premium. Alenty offers publishers additional viewability services such as its Ad Space Audit, in which the company will measure the publisher s entire ad space inventory, analyze and identify best performing placements, and provide a plan of action. Philosophy MRC Accredited Pricing Data Product Pending Geometric + browser specific developments Online + exports + API (data feeds) CPM rate (applied to successfully measured ads only) *This section supplied directly by vendor. Geometric approach, and in certain instances, in conjunction with browser optimization. Viewability is measured for each impression. Alenty says with Java script it s easy to measure viewability of the first 50% of the inventory; it s the second 50% that s exponentially harder to measure. Alenty measures the actual banner object. In order to be considered viewable, the object must be loaded. Even when the object is moved inside the page, Alenty tracks its exact position to measure its viewability. Value Prop Focus on consistent measuring practices, with practices customized to each browser to ensure that happens Founded in 2007 to focus on viewability; specialists in measuring the metric Pioneer in measuring viewability, from both sides: publisher and agency Strong focus on market research and development Global reach; team presence in 12 countries MRC accredited Strategy For Resolving Browser Variance Alenty takes a browser-by-browser approach to measuring viewability, and has a specific viewability measurement for each browser on the market. Implementation and results are consistent for all browsers. Implementation Length of implementation varies by the publisher. For some ad servers, it is simply a checkbox that publishers can check off and the solution begins. This takes just a few seconds. Most of their solutions only take a few moments to implement. Ad Server Variances Not answered Key Differentiators Biggest strength is ability to produce data perfection; achieve 99% accurate viewability measurement, including mobile web and in-stream ads. Advise publishers as to how to make their content and ads more viewable on their pages; consult on page layout in order to improve overall viewability of inventory. With 99% success rate, Alenty s viewable impressions are used by agencies to pay only when an impression is viewable and by publishers to guarantee ad-viewability of their inventory. Pricing CPM rate applied to impressions measured accurately (publishers are not charged for ads that are not successfully measured). Questions Heard Most Frequently How can I survive where only viewable ads are valuable? 12

13 comscore About comscore* comscore describes itself as a leading internet technology company that measures what people do as they navigate the digital world - and turns that information into insights and actions for our clients to maximize the value of their digital investments. The company offers four pillars of products: Audience Analytics, Advertiser Analytics, Enterprise Analytics, and Mobile Operator Analytics. Viewability falls under Enterprise Analytics. comscore offers two products for viewability. The first is its Validated Campaign Essentials (VCE) product for advertisers. More recently, comscore introduced Validated Media Essentials (VME) for publishers. The latter helps publishers understand the viewability of every ad slot on their sites. An interactive UI provides viewability data prior to the campaign, which helps them fully participate in viewability. Philosophy MRC Accredited Pricing Data Product Company Confidential Per use (advertisers) Subscription (publishers) *This section supplied directly by vendor. comscore prefers not to discuss its methodology for measuring viewability. Value Prop comscore s viewability products are catered to its users; it s not one size fits all. comscore helps its clients understand and value their consumer relationships, and understand their exact place in the overall market. The company offers an audience analytics suite of services, enabling clients to compare their position to that of their competitors. comscore offers analytic products to help clients understand their own enterprise data, such as web analytics, data analytics. Strong advertising analytics, measuring for a wide variety of metrics. Each product has an online UI, as well APIs that can used to export the data into reports for managing campaigns. comscore also offers an impression-level report, which allows clients to use the data at an individual impression report (particularly valued to the buy side). Reasons for Different Vendor Counts comscore maintains that discrepancies aren t a result of the method use (assuming the vendor is MRC accredited and has the solution has been implemented correctly). Variance is caused by how much the vendor measures, and if that includes non-human traffic. Key Differentiators comscore s code on the ads and pages, as well as the comscore panel. The company s triple informed methodology prevents fraud and uniquely distinguishes between human and non-human impressions on ads. comscore leaves no impressions unmeasured. If impressions can t be measured due to cross-domain iframes, comscore can project what the impressions would have been. Market share; comscore has three times the market size as its closest competitor. Enterprise analytics, of which viewability is one component, offers products that help publishers understand how they should optimize their pages. This is an ongoing process. The first company accredited to move beyond crossdomain iframes. Implementation Implementation for VCE (for advertisers) is between two and four days. For the VME (publishers) takes three to four weeks. 13

14 comscore (CONT) Pricing VCE is based on a per use basis, and VME, the publisher product, is based on a subscription fee. Questions Heard Most Frequently Where are there discrepancies? How do we handle ads which viewability can t measure? How do we bill, and address that issue? 14

15 MEETRICS About Meetrics* Founded in 2008, Meetrics is a pioneer in measuring the visibility of online advertising and content and their impact among the audience. Meetrics provides accountability and planning reliability for advertisers, agencies, publishers and real-time advertising platforms by its visibility and audience measurement solutions. *This section supplied directly by vendor. Philosophy Accredited Pricing Data Product/Viewability as Gateway No hybrid methodology for analyzing ad visibility based on java script CPM, or platform cost Meetrics uses a hybrid methodology for analyzing ad visibility. The technology works across all browsers, within iframes and cross site iframes. Below is a list of the main methods and an explanation of each: 1. Geometry of standard ads The viewability of an ad is determined by registering the ads position, its dimensions, the actual size of the viewable area of a user s browser, as well as the detailed vertical and horizontal scrolling history of the user in milliseconds. The Geometric approach is also used for measuring ad clutter statistics. Special ad formats that are loaded in a different position than the ad calling slot (for example layers) are also correctly accounted for. 2. Rendering approach for cross site iframes In cross-domain iframes (also known as unfriendly iframes ) the company uses an alternative approach that focuses on the rendering behaviour of the browser in order to deduce ad viewability. 3. InStream Video Ads With VAST tracking, Meetrics is able to track InStream videos with the quartile tracking events. The company can also see in which domains the ads have been running. With the more advanced VPAID standard, Meetrics can insert JavaScript into the page to determine the actual visibility, as well as detect whether InStream ads are running in display ad slots. The Meetrics platform includes an created to improve the visibility of campaigns and online advertising inventory by KPI-centric executive dashboards, watch lists and detailed media planning tools. The also offers a sophisticated altering and reporting system. Value Prop Enhancing the value and supply chain efficiency of online advertising by measuring transaction from start to end Focus on the big picture by providing ad visibility benchmarks to predict the visibility of online advertising (what can be utilized by ad serving systems and campaign planning tools.) 5 years experience in the field while being neutral positioned in the market as a third party vendor Providing insights of advertising impacts by combining audience data, conversion data and data from brand lift studies with data about the online advertising visibility. Strategy For Resolving Browser Variance According to Meetrics, iframes can be easier to measure with some browsers and difficult with others. To account for the variations, Meetrics continuously monitors quality assessment levels across all browser types to ensure its high standard of measurement. This requires an infrastructure to respond quickly to browser changes and their possible effects on measurements, along with access to historical data to observe changes due to browser changes. Implementation Meetrics is measuring with Java scripts, which are compatible with all major ad serving systems and real-time-bidding platforms. 15

16 MEETRICS (CONT) Ad Server Variances There are no real differences in the various ad servers. There is one touch point where the ad serving system, acts or reacts to the Meetrics script by making use of programmable macros. Key Differentiators Serving different market participant by one platform, providing standardized processes and highly customerspecific features and widgets. Trained to stay on track with the fast moving advertising ecosystem for five years. Track record of auditing the visibility of online advertising transactions by request of advertisers, agencies and publishers. Pricing Licenses and CPM based pricing models for visibility solutions from one million ad impressions up to multiple billions per month. Clients Meetrics is proud to provide its services to the most advanced Marketers, Agencies and Publishers in the digital space, i.e. Microsoft, Yahoo, Ebay, Aegis Media, GroupM, Xaxis, Mediacom, Mindshare, Universal McCann, Omnicom Group and many others. Questions Heard Most Frequently What resources will I need to apply? How much will it cost? 16

17 ONSCROLL About OnScroll* OnScroll is an ad technology platform that enables publishers, networks and agencies to serve viewable-only inventory. The company started out as a platform for assessing ad quality online, and quickly realized that the majority of viewability vendors focus on viewability and analytics on a retrospective basis. OnScroll decided that, in order to meet the needs of the sell-side, their platform should proactively determine viewability of an ad slot prior to serving an ad (OnScroll Serve). Philosophy Viewability as Gateway Accredited In Process - ABC UK Audit Geometric Pricing Fixed price monthly Today, the company offers OnScroll Exchange, a platform that matches the supply and demand for formats that are verified as viewable, as well as OnScroll Science, and analytics platform that determines online ad quality. *This section supplied directly by vendor. Geometric Value Prop OnScroll solves viewability, as opposed to simply reporting on it OnScroll helps publishers better monetize their websites and create new revenue from previously unobtainable placements OnScroll offers a centralized platform for the trading of OnScroll verified inventory OnScroll Exchange providing advertisers and media buyers with access to millions of viewable impressions per month Strategy For Resolving Browser Variance OnScroll believes that the only truly effective and accurate way of measuring viewability is on the publisher s side, not the advertisers. The inherent limitations that exist when measuring viewability on the advertiser s side do not exist when working directly with publishers, and so the data gathered is substantially more accurate. OnScroll provides a dashboard that shows impressions, viewable impressions, and viewable time, all of which can be broken down by the domain and section. The company also offers data collection reports that provide correlations between variables. Implementation OnScroll reports it has clients up and running in minutes, either appending its tracking pixel to their existing creative, or by wrapping ad tags on a placement level. The company also works with a number of larger publishers to provide bespoke integrations and custom functionality. Ad Server Variances OnScroll sidesteps the issue of ad server variances. Using OnScroll Serve, OnScroll s viewable-only ad technology, calls aren t made to either the associated ad server (advertiser / publisher depending on the tag) unless there is a verified opportunity for the ad to be seen. Key Differentiators Patent-pending OnScroll Serve technology which solves the viewability problem by only loading ads that can be seen A range of innovative OnScroll Serve formats which enable publishers to better monetize their pages, including a product which enables publishers to sell viewable engaged time The world s first viewable only ad exchange (launched in 2013) powered exclusively by inventory verified by OnScroll Serve An analytics suite for industry stakeholders which helps them to report on ad quality on an impression level Pricing Tiered Monthly Usage Levels 17

18 DG MEDIAMIND About DG MediaMind* DG is an ad management, and distribution platform used for multi-screen advertising (TV, online video, display or mobile). Its online product media, MediaMind, supports global online campaign management with workflows that traffic, target, serve, optimize, deliver, and measure campaigns. Viewability is one component of MediaMind s Verification Suite, formally announced in June 2013, and is pending accreditation with the MRC. The company defines verification as the process of an independent third-party attempting to verify that an advertisement was delivered according to the expectations of the advertiser. It goes beyond viewability, to include content verification, brand safety, ad blocking and more. Philosophy MRC Accredited Pricing Viewability as one of many ROI metrics Pending Geometric CPM or other *This section supplied directly by vendor. Media Mind uses a variety of metrics, depending on the type of information desired by the client. If clients want to know where ads were located, page geometry, content profile, and verification data may be used. For viewability specifically, MediaMind can measure multiple thresholds, such as how long an ad is in view, how these thresholds affect campaign performance, as well as custom thresholds requested by the publisher. In general, MediaMind sees viewability as one of many metrics that should be combined to analyze to judge the effectiveness and ROI of any online investment Ad Server Variances For publishers that don t use MediaMind s ad server, the company offers a publisher tool set, but the publisher will need to run separate tags for MediaMind to see the data. If a publisher is using MediaMind as a viewability tool, they ll attach a verification implementation tag for each campaign. Key Differentiators Unique Verification/Viewability Suite, including a viewable impression measurement solution, fully integrated into the MediaMind ad-serving platform. Verification Data sourced through page level semantic data, as opposed to panel based. Single source provider for viewability, verification, brand safety, ad blocking, and digital tear-sheets. Pricing CPM basis for now, though the company has experimented with a flat fee per campaign, and monthly retainers. MediaMind says they re open to what drives the most value for publishers and advertisers. 18

19 DOUBLEVERIFY (DV) About DoubleVerify* DV is a provider of digital advertising solutions that seeks to increase the quality of digital impressions and to help the industry become more transparent. DV sees viewability as an important tenet in ensuring that publishers and advertisers can trade on the highest quality impressions. The goal of its viewability solution is to enable all parties to optimize performance through accurate, actionable and real-time insights into impression-level viewability. Philosophy Accredited Pricing Viewability as Gateway Geometric (Browser specific implementations) CPM or Flat Fee *This section supplied directly by vendor. DV uses a geometric-based approach that utilizes browser properties to calculate whether an ad was in view at any instant of time. Unique browser-specific implementation ensures accurate measurement across all browsers. Dedicated Performance Management team to help customers implement and analyze viewability performance and to provide recommendations for improvement. Value Prop Very rich set of actionable viewability insights that go beyond the IAB s baseline viewability standards, and help media sellers better understand how to monetize their inventory and allow buyers to ensure ads have the opportunity to be seen by a real person. This includes measurements of Custom Viewability, Brand Exposure, Viewable Position on Page Load, Entire Creative Viewed Rate, and other advanced metrics. DV IQ Viewability+ solution validates a true fraudfree digital impression by supplementing viewability measurement with fraud identification to ensure impressions from fraudulent traffic are not counted as viewed. Viewability offered seamlessly with a variety of additional Impression Quality solutions using a single pixel implementation. Together these solutions provide a comprehensive view of digital campaigns across all impression quality dimensions. The DV viewability solution is delivered via a robust infrastructure to ensure publishers gather and receive accurate impression-level insights, allowing them to review performance and optimize delivery on viewability in real-time. All viewability measurements are in a wide variety of integration and reporting methods, including real-time notifications directly from the client browser, impressionlevel data feeds in addition to summary reporting. DV utilizes this infrastructure to integrate with 3rd-party systems including ad serving, attribution, audience measurement and brand-lift solutions. A variety of detailed and actionable reports at placement/creative level for advertisers and custominventory segment levels (ad slots, page layouts, etc.) available for publishers. Data feeds at impression level delivered in the clientspecified format and method. Real-time integrations from the client browser provide a stream of viewability information on an impression-byimpression basis. Key Differentiators Custom viewability - DV provides clients the option of using custom criteria (for exposure duration and percent of pixels in view) for viewability. This allows customers to calculate the performance of unique creatives or other elements. Industry Benchmarks and Weekly Trends - DV provides viewability benchmarks allowing customers to compare their performance to the industry and weekly trends to help assess performance changes. Brand Exposure data - DV viewability solutions provide detailed exposure data regarding how long was the ad in view and what was the average exposure of the entire creative to better determine engagement. Additional viewability insights - DV viewability suite offers a comprehensive set of measures to help buyers and sellers deliver the most effective inventory for the campaign, including if the ad was in view when the page was loaded and ad placements (above the fold/below the fold). This feature can be used to help optimize publisher inventory towards above the fold positions. 19

20 DOUBLEVERIFY (DV) (CONT) Advanced pre-bid integrations in RTB environments - Prebid targeting allows advertisers to selectively target ads that have the highest probability of being viewed. DV provides detailed targeting criteria to maximize performance including targeting by size, IAB viewed rate, and brand exposure. Seamless Fraud Filtration - The DV IQ Viewability+ solution removes fraudulent impressions from viewed impression counts to restore the integrity and performance of digital campaigns. Flexible Information Delivery - Our robust infrastructure provides high-volume impression-level information as data feeds or real-time calls into 3rd-party systems to limit manual operations and shorten the speed to viewability optimization. Implementation JavaScript pixel tags are typically deployed into the ad slots on a page using standard ad server functionality. DV also supports site-served implementations, as well as custom setups involving complex rich media creatives. Ad server variances Our JavaScript pixel code executes across all ad servers. Additionally, it is custom-tuned for fastest execution with certain high market-share ad servers. Reasons for different vendor counts Speed of Measurement and Serving Architecture - Differences in script load and execution time can significantly effect viewability measurement when the threshold is 1 second. Filtration - Vendors take different approaches to filtering out impressions based on good spiders and bots (ex: Google search crawler) and fraudulent activity. Unmeasured - No viewability vendor measures 100% of ad impressions. Vendors take differing approaches in how they report on these unmeasured ad impressions. Questions heard frequently How do I increase viewability on my inventory? How does my viewability performance compare to that of my peers? How can I integrate the viewability data into my (ad server, analytics platform, optimization algorithms, etc.)? 20

21 INTEGRAL AD SCIENCE About Integral Ad Science Integral Ad Science (formerly AdSafe Media) is a leading global provider of actionable advertising intelligence data for buyers and sellers of digital media, and is the industry s standard for rating media quality. Since launching the industry s first preventative brand safety solution in 2009, powered by constant growth and innovation, Integral has evolved into a global media valuation platform that is essential to the buying and selling of quality media. Integral focuses on a comprehensive solution set that enables advertising to appear in quality environments and receive favorable exposure while the sell side can monitor and control its quality and performance. Integral s technology drives improved visibility, efficiency, and ROI for players across the digital media landscape. Philosophy MRC Accredited Pricing Viewability as Gateway Multiple: geometric browser optimization, direct measurement) and impression level reporting CPM or License model *This *This section supplied directly by by vendor. Integral believes the only way to effectively measure viewability accurately is to leverage multiple methodologies that accommodate all impressions across all browsers, operating systems and environments. As such, the company uses a blended approach, determined at the time the impression appears. One method is to measure view impressions via the post-campaign reporting. The other uses real-time analysis. The company offers two types of viewability services: In browser measurement to determine if the ad served was in/out of view Pre-bid targeting allowing the advertiser to selectively target ads that have a higher probability of being in view in the RTB environment In addition the company uses four techniques for collecting viewability, in both friendly and unfriendly iframe environments: If the ad is placed in a friendly iframe, or directly on the publisher page, the viewability information can be accessed directly. This measurement is used on only about 10-15% of impressions measured because the rest of the ads encountered are served in cross-domain iframes, which are restricted by Same Origin Policy. Because Same Origin Policy restricts access to the parent DOM to gather location (and most other) data, viewability must be ascertained using other techniques. The following three methods used by the company below are not restricted by iframes. Direct measurement allows any page object access to certain information, from which viewability can be deduced. It lets you know, for example, the size of the browser window (aka viewport ) and how many pixels the advertisement is from the top left corner of the browser. Browser optimization allows the company to ascertain viewability by looking at the how certain browsers (types and versions) alter the behavior of certain media types when the object goes off screen. This modification can be monitored and can tell you precisely whether the advertisement is in view or not. Lastly, in addition to viewability measurement product, Integral offers a predictive viewability product via its API from which, when employed, delivers significant viewability improvements, ranging from %. 21