In today’s digital advertising landscape, viewability has become a crucial metric for marketers and advertisers. Viewability refers to the measurement of whether an ad was actually seen by users. It ensures that advertisers get their money’s worth and allows them to optimize their campaigns for maximum impact. In this blog post, we will explore how to calculate ad viewability and provide insights into optimizing viewability for better campaign performance.
Defining Ad Viewability
Ad viewability measures the likelihood of an ad being seen by a user. The industry standard for viewability states that an ad is considered viewable if at least 50% of the video or creative asset are in the visible area of the user’s browser window for one second. This criterion ensures that ads have a fair chance of capturing the user’s attention.
Calculating Ad Viewability
To calculate ad viewability, you need to understand and track two key metrics: the number of viewable impressions and the total number of served impressions.
Viewable Impressions
This metric represents the number of ad impressions that meet the viewability criteria. An impression is deemed viewable when it fulfills the minimum requirements discussed earlier, such as being in the visible area for a minimum duration.
Served Impressions
This metric represents the total number of ad impressions served by the ad server, regardless of whether they were visible to a user or not.
The formula to calculate ad viewability is:
Viewability = (Viewable Impressions / Served Impressions) x 100
For example, if you served 10,000 impressions, and 8,000 were considered viewable, the viewability rate would be 80% [(8,000 / 10,000) x 100].
Optimizing Ad Viewability:
To improve ad viewability and enhance campaign performance, consider the following strategies:
- Ad Placement: Placing ads strategically on high-traffic areas of a webpage, such as above the fold or within content, can significantly increase viewability.
- Ad Formats: Consider using ad formats that are less prone to being overlooked, such as sticky ads or interstitials, which have higher viewability rates compared to traditional banner ads.
- Utilize Sizemaps: Ad sizemaps allow different ad sizes to be rendered at different screen resolutions. This ensures ads will be appropriately sized as it relates to the available area on a web page and whether the ad is viewed on a desktop, mobile or tablet screen resolution.
- Responsive Design: Make sure your website has a mobile responsive layout for use on mobile and tablet devices. Advertisers do want to run ads intended for desktop resolutions on a mobile device/resolution.
- Ad Load Time: Optimize your ad creative and the loading time to prevent users from scrolling past the ad before it has a chance to fully load. Slow-loading ads are more likely to have lower viewability rates.
- Ad Fraud Prevention: Implement fraud detection and prevention measures to minimize the impact of fraudulent activities on viewability metrics. Fake impressions generated by bots can negatively affect viewability rates. Invalid traffic can also be the reason for ad networks not approving a domain.
- A/B Testing: Continuously test different ad variations, placements, and formats to identify what works best for your target audience. A/B testing helps optimize viewability and overall campaign performance.
Ad viewability is a vital metric in assessing the effectiveness of digital advertising campaigns. By understanding how to calculate viewability and implementing strategies to optimize it, advertisers can ensure their ads are seen by the right audience, maximize their return on investment, and improve overall campaign success. Remember, viewability is not a one-time task; it requires continuous monitoring, adaptation, and optimization to stay ahead in the ever-evolving advertising landscape.