Publishers will be paid only for the ads that are fully viewable by the users as recently announced by Google on its AdWords blog.
As Google Display Network is aiming for a 100% viewable ads in the coming few months, advertisers will be paying 30% premium to use this new viewable ads model.
In their AdWords blog, Google stated that 56% of the display ads never had an opportunity to be viewed because of their location in the blog. Most unviewed ads are placed below the fold, scrolled out of view or in a background tab. In addition, Google plans to make the GDN one of the only media platforms where advertisers don’t pay for an ad impression unless it was viewable. In the following months, all campaigns that buy on a CPM basis will be upgraded to be viewable CPM (vCPM).
Utilizing the Active View Technology, Google explains that an ad can only be counted as “viewable” when at least 50% of the ad shows on screen for one second or longer for display ads, and two second or longer for video ads.
Indication for Publishers
Google’s new policy clearly gives maximum results for keeping media advertisers’ campaigns manageable and optimized. On the other hand, publishers will now pay more attention to their ad layout and make their website’s user interface a priority since advertisers will likely choose websites where their ads will have relatively higher viewability rates.
Publishers working on a CPM model seem to be more affected with the new policy than those working on a CPC model. Decrease in revenues is expected to happen if the ads are not well laid out or if the content isn’t that engaging enough to hold the reader’s interest.
Tips for Publishers
Here are a couple of things that publishers can do to set themselves up for what’s coming:
- Develop and execute an ad layout strategy that accentuates on both user experience and ad visibility.
- Try out different ad locations, ad types, and ad sizes and assess which variants results in higher active view performance.
- Use heatmap tools to discover where users are likely to spend majority of their time and try setting your ad units in those specific areas.
- Measure and compare ad units placed above the fold and those placed below the fold and see which works best.
- Make good use of vertical ad units in your ad setup since they are proven to be more viewable than horizontal ones.
- Don’t confuse and drive away readers by cluttering too many ads close together.
- Content focused websites should aim to improve its editorial quality since user engagement directly correlates to performance.
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Elements That Affect Ad Viewability
To better understand the factors that contribute to ad viewability, Google collected research data from Double Click and Google Display Network and released an Infographic that lists out 5 factors affecting viewability.
