FT to address viewability issue with new ‘ad time’ option
The Financial Times has begun experimenting with a new type of digital trading that will see it sell ‘advertising time’ rather than a set number of impressions.
The move, which aims to offer better viewabilty value to brands, will see the FT offer advertisers ad time as opposed to ad space, with the newsbrand’s commercial lead describing the current system of buying a set number of impressions as “fundamentally inequitable.”
Jon Slade, the Financial Times‘ commercial director of global digital advertising and insight, told Newsline: “A general issue that we observe in the digital advertising industry, specifically in relation to brand advertising, is a difficulty in establishing true value for the space that advertisers buy.
“At one level, all ad impressions are currently equal – whether they’re seen for less than a second, one second, or one minute: as far as a buyer or seller is concerned the value exchange is £x for 1,000 impressions.
“That’s fundamentally inequitable and we believe – and our research to date backs this up – that there exists a firm correlation between the amount of time an ad is exposed to a target audience, and the impact that exposure has for the advertiser.”
Last month the IAB gave the industry the go ahead to begin trading against viewability for the first time. The IAB standards, which mirror those currently used in the US, have been released to enable the entire marketplace to benefit from an “improved quality, accountability and effectiveness” of digital advertising.
They state that 50% of pixels must be in the viewable portion of an internet browser for a minimum of one continuous second to qualify as a viewable display impression for a standard display ad.
However, Slade said the IAB standards are only the first step and that the Financial Times, working in partnership with real-time analytics company Chartbeat, wants to move beyond this.
“The 3MS Viewability Initiative championed by the IAB takes a first and important step in rectifying that by saying that if an advert isn’t seen for one second then it’s not classed as ‘viewable’ and shouldn’t be paid for,” he said.
“We wholeheartedly endorse this. But we want to go beyond that and say that we should consider exposed time as a currency, not just a call to the ad server to create an impression.
“We think that gives better value to the advertiser seeking to expose their brand message, and rightfully values the engagement of users that all premium publishers are seeking to provide. Our technology partner, Chartbeat, is working with us to help create this new way to access the FT audience.”
Currently, between 40% and 50% of all ads served up – and often counted as an impression, therefore leading to a financial transaction – are not viewable.
The effect means advertisers are paying for impressions that are not seen, whilst publishers are seen to be making money off false pretences. Some industry commentators have said this has led to a steady diminution of trust, all the more so as digital positions itself as a brand-building medium.
Commenting on the news, Dave Mulrenan, head of press at ZenithOptimedia Group, said that although what the FT is testing is to be welcomed as the industry explores different ways to deal with the viewability issue, the model would be limited across the market.
“It makes a lot of sense to the [Financial Times] as they have a valuable audience and a website with specific content,” he said. “However, this method is dependent on the type of content served and the audience it is served to. As an industry we need to be developing metrics that capture the value of the consumer across different types of content.”
The new FT system, which will remain a choice for advertisers, is set to roll out fully by the start of October this year.
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