What is Ad Visibility?
The term Ad Visibility describes the effective visibility of purchased online advertising media on the user’s screen. Ad Visibility is a measure used to measure the success of online advertising campaigns. It is a supplement to pure ad impressions. There are several approaches for measuring the technical visibility of advertising methods.
Definition, overview and general information
As a measurement of the visibility of advertising media within a browser, Ad Visibility gives an indication of how long and how often advertising measures are in the visible area of the browser for users. This key figure is typically found in connection with the Ad View Time. This describes the visibility time of advertising media, that is, the time period in which advertising banners appear in the visibility field of the user. Ad View Time and Ad Visibility are used together to measure the success of an online advertising campaign.
Visibility is a kind of complement to pure ad impressions. The ad impressions determine the number of users who come across an advertising medium. However, the length of time is not the subject of this measurement method, which is why Ad Visibility starts here.
Functionality and measurement methods
Technically, Ad Visibility is implemented by a script that forwards signals to ad servers at short intervals. As soon as an ad banner is no longer in the visible field of a user, the signal to the ad server breaks off. This happens when a user leaves the page, but also when a new program or other browser type is opened.
The technical realization of the measurement methods provides for numerous procedures. Since different providers use different methods, the measurement results can vary. One approach to measuring ad visibility is based on the differences between the measurement rate and the visibility rate. One problem is that not all systems can capture all content. Videos and moving images, as well as embedded content such as iFrames, pose measurement problems for some systems. An evaluation of the visibility of advertising media requires knowledge about how many recorded ad impressions the measured visible part is based on.
Another approach takes up the difference between advertising space and advertising media. The ad spaces are predefined and filled with advertising media. Ad servers insert these advertisements themselves on request or by forwarding them to other ad servers. Thus it happens that advertising space or advertising space is available, but advertising media are not played out or not played out in time. It is therefore of great importance in reporting to find out whether the measurement of ad visibility is based on advertising space or advertising media.
In addition, the time of delivery or loading of the script must be taken into account. The start of the ad visibility measurement depends on this time of loading of the measurement script. A script loads faster if it is directly integrated into the website instead of being delivered by the ad server together with the advertising material. Normally there is no great distance between the visibility of ad space and the insertion of an ad. However, there are also cases in which advertising media only appear after a considerable delay or not at all in the user’s browser. Such a situation occurs when several ad servers are involved in the delivery.
There is a certificate from the US Media Rating Council (MRC) regarding the interpretation of various measured values or measurement differences. This certificate informs advertisers about measurement differences and makes statements about the comparability of the providers and their conditions.
Importance and significance in online marketing
The behavior of users can be recorded quickly and efficiently online. This makes it much easier for advertisers to plan and evaluate advertising and marketing campaigns. In this context, ad visibility is a key figure that offers particularly fast insights. These can also be implemented at short notice in advertising and media planning.
Ad visibility starts where ad impressions and targeting measures reach their limits. These do not allow conclusions to be drawn about the visibility of banners. Since its development, the ad visibility method has been constantly adapted and optimized. In online marketing, the key figure can be determined cost-effectively and efficiently. In contrast to offline marketing, where the financial and logistical effort is considerably higher, online visibility can be used to measure success without much effort. In addition, the integration of sophisticated ad server software eliminates the need for additional programming.
Benefits for advertisers and website owners
Compared to earlier procedures, Ad Visibility has the advantage of allowing clear and reliable statements on visibility or contact time. In connection with statements about ad view time and the time visitors spend on websites and sub-pages, advertisers obtain important information on the design and optimization of their advertising media. On the basis of this data, better decisions can be made about future advertising campaigns and the sensible use of the advertising budget.
A great strength of the use of ad visibility as a key figure is a higher degree of transparency for both sides. In particular, price models and the trade with online advertising between publishers and advertisers benefit from this. On the basis of the findings on the visibility of the advertising media and the length of time visitors spend on the advertising offers, new pricing models are possible that take these factors into account.
The prices for advertising media can be adjusted on the basis of the determined user behavior. Ad visibility contributes to advertisers receiving more precise knowledge about the success and advertising effectiveness of advertising media. Directly linked to this is the advantage of growing trust between publishers and advertisers. The transparency makes the pricing comprehensible for both sides. The gain in trust also benefits the providers of the advertising spaces and counteracts a possible drop in the price of the advertising media.
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