Despite widespread mistrust in metrics, viewability is not really a thing in video advertising
Although the ad industry has been awash with headlines decrying the importance of accountability, only 30% of brands use advanced viewability metrics, according to research, despite 57% of young agency staffers largely distrusting the metrics they are expected to work with.
Thew viewability of online video ads is of a low priority for younger agency staff according to Turn / Pixaby
The insights were revealed today (May 3) in a survey by Turn which surveyed over 200 ad execs, which also indicated a generation gap in the priorities of different agency execs, including how 28% of respondent of those aged under 30 years-old place viewability as a key requirement from the supply side.
Of the respondents aged under 30 years-old, the majority (60%) argued that video is an ineffective medium when it comes to meeting their campaign KPIs, with 76% of such participants placing ad fraud as a less-than-crucial concern with respect to video.
Meanwhile, the findings went on to reveal how overall media agency professionals place more value on “good audience metrics” (56%), plus “context and quality” (62%) from publishers and ad networks, rather than viewability metrics (48%).
In fact, advanced viewability options such as GroupM or AVOC (audible and viewable on completion) are in use by just 30% of brands.
Paul Alfieri, Turn, senior vice president, marketing platform, said: “While only 28% of younger execs who are buying media say viewability is a key requirement from the supply side, the discrepancies do not prove one generation correct and the other incorrect.
“Where one group has grown up with digital and challenges incumbent metrics, the other has experienced the rise and transformation of television first-hand.”
Other findings reveal that despite recent news that some supply-side platforms (SSPs) were reselling inventory or mis-stating which publishers they represent, fraud-free guarantees (41%), standardized success metrics (46%) and premium inventory (40%) ranked as the three-lowest tactics for getting brands to invest more in online video.
Further findings reveal that 66% of respondents said that pricing transparency were high on their list of priorities, with almost three-quarters (73%) claiming that inventory quality is a key concern, both of which were a higher priority than fraud (65%) with respect to video.
By contrast, the ability to use new formats such as vertical video or 360 video took the lead, rated by 51% of respondents as a key factor in encouraging spend, according to the findings.
In terms of where the budgets for programmatic video are coming from, most (67%) claimed that ad dollars from linear, broadcast TV was making its way in to online video.
Meanwhile, only 23% report seeing new budgets created for video spend, suggested the move to programmatic video is driven by a need for ad spend to work harder rather than a reflection of larger overall marketing budgets.