Calling All Publishers, Viewable Impressions Aren't A Threat - They're An Opportunity

UK ad-technology start-up, OnScroll, rolled out into private beta today, enabling publishers to serve and sell viewable only inventory.

London (I-Newswire) February 5, 2013 - UK ad-technology start-up, OnScroll, rolled out into private beta today, enabling publishers to serve and sell viewable only inventory.

In an accompanying infographic entitled ‘The State of Viewable Impressions,’ the company claim that just 46% of all online ads served meet the IAB’s Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) proposed viewability standard. Under the 3MS initiative, the IAB define a viewable impression as one in which at least 50 per cent of an ad is in view for a minimum of one second. Why does this matter? Because on a global basis that would equate to some $11.7 Billion wasted ad spend annually.

Throughout 2012 Advertisers certainly began to take note of such wastage, and aided by analytic vendors were able to quantify the extent of the problem on their advertising.

Publishers, on the other hand, were still without a comprehensive solution which enabled them to offer viewable inventory heading into 2013 - a year dubbed by many industry experts as the year of the viewable impression. This was until the launch of OnScroll…

Enter OnScroll

Currently an ad is deemed as served, and in turn billable, once an appropriate call is made by a host webpage to an ad server requesting an advertisement. In almost all cases this call is made on initial page load, regardless of where the ad sits on a page. Under this current delivery mechanism, however, there exist up to 20 different reasons why a ‘served’ ad will not be deemed a ‘viewable impression’ including the most obvious – that the ad is served below the fold, and the user never scrolls down to reach it.

In contrast, OnScroll’s patent-pending technology solves the viewablity issue, by enabling publishers to exclusively serve viewable ad inventory. By monitoring on-site user behaviour, OnScroll can establish and execute the most appropriate moment at which to deliver a viewable ad unit, ensuring that the delivered ad will be seen by a user.

OnScroll will officially launch in March 2013 at SXSW Interactive, at which time more details will be released on the full suite of available features and analytics available.
The technology has already been successfully implemented across a number of leading UK properties in private beta, increasing each site's available advertising inventory by up to 10 per cent per added OnScroll unit. Engagement rates compared to standard units also increased notably too, with CTRs and hover-over rates up by 31 per cent and 39 per cent respectively.

The benefits of viewable inventory, however are not exclusive to response rates. Forrester predict that publishers will be able to command higher CPM rates for viewable inventory, forecasting an increase in rates of 76% by 2017. In addition, with OnScroll Publishers will be able to monetise each page to its true potential, by placing more below the fold ads in confidence knowing that rates and responses will not be diluted.

“The online display industry is moving away from CPM and towards CPMv (cost per media viewed) as the standard currency of trade. Publishers shouldn’t view this transition as a threat, but an opportunity. With OnScroll, publishers can deliver dynamic inventory based on how their users engage with their web pages. The end result is more ads of a higher quality being served, delivering increased revenues and for advertisers this means higher engagement rates which will ultimately deliver much better ROI on their advertising dollars," said Babac Vafaey, co-founder of OnScroll.

To keep tabs on the OnScroll launch, sign-up at OnScroll.com. Alternatively, mail enquiries@onscroll.com if you can’t wait to learn more.