Mumbai: When you look at the evolution of digital advertising, it makes sense that viewability has continued to be a top concern for marketers. The entire digital advertising ecosystem exists to support brands and their efforts to reach and influence consumers. Whether caused by a growing number of channels and platforms or out of necessity to stay connected, consumers are increasing their time spent with digital media.

It was not long ago that viewability rates of 50 per cent were the industry norm, but rates are now on the rise. According to our H1 2021 media quality report, viewability averages stand above 65 per cent across nearly all formats and environments. While this marks an impressive accomplishment, this range indicates that as much as one-third of digital ads are going unseen by consumers in certain environments. This viewability gap creates challenges for both the buy and sell side of the digital media business. Marketers often talk about reaching the right consumers, in the right places, in the appropriate context. But first, marketers should ensure that their ads have the opportunity to be viewable in order to make a lasting impact.

Consider time-in-view to measure ad effectiveness

In simple terms, viewability is a digital ad seen by an actual consumer, while time-in-view is the average duration that a viewable impression remains in view. This excludes impressions that are not viewable. Viewability is good for eliminating waste, but time-in-view may be an even better metric for measuring media quality, especially for brand campaigns where exposure time drives better brand recall.

A joint study by GroupM and Integral Ad Science (IAS) for Toyota proved that media quality, frequency, and time-in-view metrics as well as exposure to ad placements were key to driving positive business outcomes for the auto manufacturer. Toyota saw an 83 per cent conversion rate uplift, resulting in 3,679 incremental brochure downloads attributed to viewable impressions. The case study showed that exposure time is a primary driver for outcomes, directly impacting campaign effectiveness.

As advertising budgets continue to shift towards digital, advertisers are being asked to prove RoI and the added value of digital marketing. This need to demonstrate impact is driving a shift in how they seek to measure the quality of their digital investments. Time in view allows advertisers to optimise towards a metric that better drives marketing ROI.

Mobile campaigns in India deliver stronger media quality results

With over 500 million Indians using smartphones, an overwhelming majority of consumers today are making purchasing decisions through mobile devices. A recent study found that over 60 per cent of Indian consumers are using their mobile devices to guide them through their shopper journey, from research to discovery to making the ultimate purchase.  People are typically on the go and traveling during the festive season, which means that they will be spending additional time on their mobile devices. It’s critical for marketers to have a mobile-first strategy for India.

According to the recent IAS media quality report H1 2021, mobile campaigns in India delivered stronger results. Mobile web display viewability increased by one percentage point to 58.9 per cent in H1 2021 and mobile in-app display increased from 51.3 per cent to 54.1 per cent. The time-in-view for mobile web display campaigns in India increased from 15.24 seconds to 19.33 seconds, while the worldwide average stood at 14.91 seconds, clearly indicating that Indian consumers were engaged longer with the ads on mobile web display.

From a brand risk perspective too, mobile campaigns in India posted lower brand risks than display, with mobile web display registering brand risk reduction from 2.6 per cent to 1.8 per cent. The ad fraud on mobile web display marginally decreased to 0.2 per cent, while the global average was 0.4 per cent. As spending increases on mobile, media quality challenges may arise such as ad fraud, unsafe brand environments, and unviewable inventory.

Forrester expects e-retail sales to reach about $9.2 billion in India during the 2021 festive month, up 42 per cent year-on-year. While this indicates a huge opportunity for marketers, it also calls for them to evaluate the metrics of their campaign’s performance - bringing to the forefront viewability and time-in-view.

Brands need to know that their ads are being viewed by real people – or risk losing the chance to improve RoI this Diwali.

(The author is commercial lead for India at Integral Ad Science. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)