Brands line up behind GroupMs global rollout of viewability standards


WPPs media investment management unit GroupM has rolled out a new set of viewability standards that seek to champion a new benchmark in how advertisers measure a digital ads opportunity to be seen.

The rollout is supported by a number of GroupMs key clients who are calling for enhanced viewability and measurement in digital advertising, including Campbell Soup, Shell, Subway, Volvo Cars and Unilever, who partnered with GroupM back in 2014 when the firms viewability standards were originally announced in the US.

“Unilever and GroupM have been at the forefront of the viewability and transparency conversation,” said Keith Week, chief marketing and communications officer for Unilever. “We support GroupMs ongoing assessment in this space to reflect changes in consumer behaviour and available ad formats, and to ensure full accountability and verification.”

According to global verification providers, as many as 50 per cent of all digital ads are not viewable, which represents a significant accountability risk to advertising clients. GroupMs standards, which were announced for ads served to US consumers in 2014, require that 100 per cent of the pixels in a display ad must be in view for any amount of time.

For video, 50 per cent of the video must be played at the users initiation, with the sound on, while 100 per cent in view. Since introducing its standards, GroupM has seen video impressions that meet this degree of viewability rise from 18 per cent to 55 per cent.

As well as rolling out these viewability rules to the global market, GroupM is also continuing to evolve its standards, and now requires that display ads are viewable for one second to meet its criteria. This change is driven largely by user behaviours in mobile and social newsfeed environments, where quick scrolling can sometimes greatly reduce the impact of ads.

“Our ambition is to offer clients the absolute best quality digital media in every market,” said John Montgomery, executive vice president of brand safety at GroupM. “By working with clients and progressive media and technology partners, we can help shape the digital marketplace for the better, as we have seen in the US.

“It was always our goal to operate around a consistent standard globally and following many months of partner dialogue, now is the right time for us to move forward with these enhanced standards that consider the evolution in social and mobile platforms, as well as user behaviours.”

As well as a number of brand partners lining up to support its efforts, GroupM has secured several big name media and technology partners, including Hulu, Spotify, Teads, comScore, DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science and Moat. The firm is in active dialogue with all its digital media partners worldwide about viewability measurement and delivery to the now-global standards.

“Establishing high viewability standards and ensuring they are brought to life in quality ad environments is of paramount importance,” said Brian Benedik, global head of ad sales at Spotify. “Were proud to stand alongside major industry players like GroupM as they take this action forward.”