Viewability of Video Advertising

Viewability is not a real word, at least if you go by the dictionary. However over the past decade the concept has been a hot topic. The metric examines what proportion of an ad was physically available to be seen by its target audience and for how long.

So how does TV measure up?

• TV advertising is viewed full screen with sound and has long viewing sessions so there is a great opportunity for TV ads to be seen and heard.
• In the age of the PVR, TV can of course be fast forwarded but the majority (87%) of viewing is to live TV.
• We have robust industry agreed measurement in place to determine when advertising is and isn’t being viewed. The meter in TV panel homes measures viewing second by second and identifies when fast forwarding happens and excludes this from reported data.
• Viewing is reported to the industry at an aggregated minute by minute level and for an ad to be counted as having being viewed the viewer has to have viewed the majority of the minute in which the ad starts.
• 13% of viewing is to recorded TV but only 6% of commercials are delivered in recorded programmes. Correctly measuring and excluding fast forwarding means that only those commercials that are viewed at normal speed are included.

However there is an additional crucial measure here for video; audibility- i.e. was the ad played with the sound on?

Our agreed TV measurement standards ensure that advertisers only pay for what is viewed in full at normal speed with sound on. With TV Advertising you get exactly what you pay for.