Users have a variety of device options available to them when they go online, ranging from desktop computers with large screens to mobile devices with significantly smaller displays and everything in between. While multiple options are great for users, it can be challenging for ad serving.
Depending on their screen size and the positioning of your ads, users may never see some of the ads on your site, even though they may be counted as impressions. Measuring viewability can help you determine how likely it is that an ad was actually seen by a user.
What is a viewable impression and viewability?
An impression is considered a viewable impression when it has appeared within a user's browser and had the opportunity to be seen. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) defines a viewable impression as an ad that meets the following criteria:
- For ads, 50% of the ad's pixels are visible in the browser window for a continuous 1 second.
- For larger ads (those greater than 242,000 pixels), 30% of the ad's pixels are visible in the browser window.
- For in-stream video ads, 50% of the ad's pixels must be visible in the browser window for a continuous 2 seconds.
Active View reporting provides measurement data to inform publishers of the number of viewable impressions their site generated. Publishers can use this data to understand and enhance their site's viewability.
Why is viewability important to me?
Viewability data can help publishers increase the long-term value of their display inventory. Advertisers are increasingly asking to buy viewable impressions, and publishers with the most viewable inventory will be in the best position to earn more revenue from this trend. Maximizing the number of viewable impressions on your site will:
- Make additional inventory eligible to brand advertisers buying viewable impressions on the Google Display Network.
- Reveal high and low areas of viewability on your site so you can focus on increasing your viewability rate.
- Help you understand how likely an ad is to be clicked; after all, an ad needs to be viewable to be clicked.