Ad impressions must be backed by actual visibility, warns GfK

Impressions, click-through rates or even branding metrics are no longer the sole indicators in evaluating a campaign's success. This is because the ad impressions alone do not take into account whether the advertisement was on the visible screen of the user, nor for how long.

"Users may land on a page that includes your ad, but almost immediately scroll to a point where your ad is no longer visible - or only partially visible." says Arno Hummerston, one of GfK's experts in digital technologies. "In that case, basing your ad placement on delivered ad impressions alone would have been wasted money. To fully understand your return on investment, it's essential to measure the delivered ad impressions alongside the visibility of your ad: how much of your ad was visible on the viewer's screen and for how long."

As part of its digital strategy, GfK is launching a global instrument designed to do exactly that

DeliveryControl.dx is designed to track browser activity (browser window or active tab), the position of the advertisement on the website, the user's screen resolution, and any scrolling by the user. The reporting displays the different levels of visibility of the advertisement - whether it was fully displayed (100%) or if at least 90%, 75%, 50% or 1% were visible on the user's screen - and the average view time for each of these visibility levels. Furthermore it can be segmented by site, channel, placement, ad format, and creative.

To measure the visibility and view time, GfK applies nurago's cost efficient and easy to implement tagging system. Ad contacts are passively measured without the necessity of panels, and results are continuously reported. As there is no need for an online panel, even small volume campaigns can be evaluated reliably.

"Ultimately, the benefit is with the advertisers," says Hummerston, "since they pay their ad agencies and marketers based on performance. DeliveryControl.dx gives them a far truer measurement of the actual view time that their ad is getting - plus, it gives immediate reporting, which means that campaigns can be monitored and optimised as they are running.

"We can also take this to the next level, by combining DeliveryControl.dx with existing GfK panel-based demographic data (from AudienceProfiles.dx and ExposureEffects.dx). That lets us analyse visibility on an audience level, to produce a richer, truer and deeper picture of campaign effectiveness and efficiency."