4 Ways to Increase Ad Viewability
Are my ads being viewed?
That is the enduring question digital publishers have been facing when it comes to the difficulty of measuring ad viewability.
As stated by David Miller, AOL’s Vice President of Ad Product Management, “The reality is that, while most ads can be measured as viewable or not, there are hundreds of millions of viewable ads which are not being measured as viewable because the technology to detect and tally all types of ads is not there yet.”1
Indeed, ad viewability is an important measure for publishers since improved viewability generates a higher ROI.2
Here are 4 ways publishers can increase their ad viewability.
Focus on Video Ads
Fact: 56% of banner ads are never seen.3
The real opportunity lies with video ads: according to a 2015 study by Google, on average 46% of video ads across the web are never seen.4
The rise of mobile video has also helped increase video ad viewability, since mobile video accounts for 50% of all mobile traffic.5 What’s more intriguing, according to the same Google study, 83% of video ads are viewable on the mobile Web while only 53% are viewable on desktop.6
As an added benefit, video ads are also more profitable. In fact, while the average eCPM of a static ad is $2.80, according to Monetize Pros, the average YouTube preroll video add is $7.60.78
As a result of video ads having a higher eCPM and higher viewability rates, Facebook has recently decided to monetize with video ads for Facebook Live. The 15- second video ads will not be obtrusive and will only begin to play once a viewer has streamed for five minutes.9
Avoid Obtrusive Ads
Publishers should also avoid obtrusive ads such as full screen floating ads and ads that automatically play. As explained by Anca Bradley from Entrepreneur, these types of ads can drastically ruin users’ experience. When a user encounters these types of ads, they are surprised, causing them to rapidly close out of the window.10 This ultimately leads to decreased ad viewability.
Use Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is when ads are displayed only when the user reaches a certain section of the web page. This increases viewability because the number of impressions that are served below the fold decrease.11 Meaning ads are only on the page when a viewer can actually see them.
GQ recognized the importance of lazy loading and implemented it on its homepage. Howard Mittman, publisher and chief revenue officer at GQ stated, “In premium environments for luxury advertising, premium positioning still matters.”12
Consider Size and Position
Another thing that matters is the size of the ad.
Ad sizes with the highest viewability are the 120×140, 240×400, 160×160, and 120×600.13 Since these are all vertical ads, the long length of these ads follow the users as they scroll through the web page.14
When it comes to the best way to position ads, those with the highest viewability are the ones placed horizontally right above the fold of the page. In fact, ads that are above the fold have an average viewability rate of 68%.15
A few modifications can lead to increased viewability and, with it, better monetization.
1. Shields, Mike. “The Push for Web Ad Viewability Proving To Be Nightmare for Publishers Early On.” The Wall Street Journal, 27 Jan. 2015.
2. “Ad Viewability.” Optimizley.
3. Peterson, Tim. “Brands to Publishers: Let Us Check Your VIewability Rates or We’ll Stop Buying Ads.” Adage, 26 May 2015
4. Slaone, Garret. “Infographic: Youtube Ads Are Reportedly Viewable 91% of the Time.” Adweek, 8 Mar. 2015.
5. Abramovich, Giselle. “15 Stats Brands Should Know About Online Video.” Digiday. N.p., 02 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 July 2016.
6. Slaone, Garret. “Infographic: Youtube Ads Are Reportedly Viewable 91% of the Time.” Adweek, 8 Mar. 2015.
7. “Display Ad CPM Rates.” Monetize Plus, 15 May. 2014.
8. Gutelle, Sam. “The Average YouTube CPM is $7.60, But Making Money Isn’t Easy.” Tube Filter, 3 Feb. 2014.
9. Orttung, Nocle. “Video ads could come to Facebook Live. Good Idea?” The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Aug. 2016.
10. Bradley, Anca. “Avoid These 7 Annoying Ad Placement Techniques on Your Site.” Entrepreneur, 19 Jan. 2015.
11. “Viewability spotlight for sellers: best practices for improving viewability.” DoubleClick, Mar. 2016.
12. Moses, Lucia. “How GQ reversed declining homepage traffic.” Digiday, 26 Jul. 2016.
13. “Viewability spotlight for sellers: best practices for improving viewability.” DoubleClick, Mar. 2016.
14. “5 Factors of Display Viewability.” Think with Google, Dec. 2014
15. IBID.