31% of Digital Ads Aren’t Seen

According to comScore’s white paper titled “Changing How the World Sees Digital Advertising,” nearly a third of digital ads are not “in-view” and, thus, wasted. The study was a vCE (validated Campaign Essentials) Charter Study. vCE is a comScore solution that validates whether or not impressions delivered as part of a campaign were in-view, delivered in the right geography, seen in brand-safe environments and absent of fraud. These were the main pillars of the study.

The study defined the key metrics accordingly:

• In-view: an ad impression with at least 50 percent of the ad’s pixels in the user’s viewport for at least one second

• Audience: based on traditional demographics and more than 80 behavioral segments

• Geography: for this study, all campaigns were based on delivery in the U.S.

• Brand safety: the brand appropriateness of sites where ads are delivered (e.g., objectionable content)

• Fraud: ad impressions served to non-human agents, and ads served to users via illegitimate methods or content

Across all campaigns in the study, the average in-view rate was 69 percent. However, there was a range of 55 percent to 93 percent, indicating that on average, 31 percent of ads were not seen and were thus wasted.

According to comScore, 89 percent of ads served on coupon sites were in-view, while 81 percent of ads served on directories were in-view and 73 percent of ads on entertainment – radio sites were in-view.

The report also clarifies the misconception that ads delivered above the fold are seen while ads delivered below the fold are not. “Surprisingly, the findings demonstrate that some ads delivered ‘above-the-fold’ were not seen because users quickly scrolled past them before the ad had a chance to load, and alternatively, many ads placed ‘below-the-fold’ delivered a high opportunity to be seen.”

When it comes to campaign audience attributes, 94 percent of campaigns used age, followed by 50 percent for behavioral segment, 44 percent for gender, 6 percent for household income and 6 percent for presence of children.

The report found that on average, 70 percent of campaigns with a target audience that included one demographic variable delivered impressions to the target. The accuracy for campaigns with two variables was 48 percent, while the accuracy for campaigns with three variables was 11 percent.

On average, campaigns hit their behavioral audience target 36 percent of the time, according to comScore. The report notes the cookie-based nature of behavioral segmentation as a primary limitation for this kind of targeting.

Regarding brand safety, the report found that 72 percent of campaigns observed had impressions served in inappropriate content, spanning a total of 980 sites.

comScore offered three key themes from the study:

1. Marketers are not necessarily getting what they expect when they buy online ads.

2. The way online advertising is delivered varies significantly by site, placement and creative.

3. Regardless of the quality of the buy, there is almost always room for improvement.

Source:

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/Changing_How_the_World_Sees_Digital_Advertising