Tag Archives: viewability

Increasing viewability could boost earnings from video ads

For the seventh installment of the #SuccessStack, we’ll explore the topic of viewability for video ads and take a look at how mastering this could boost your earnings from video ads on your site.

Why is viewability for video important?

On YouTube, over 50% of viewership happens on a mobile device and the number of hours people spend watching videos on mobile is up 100% YoY. So, adding video content represents a huge opportunity for publishers and advertisers alike. But as with display advertising, advertisers are now looking to transact only on viewable video. This means that publishers looking to grow their earnings from this dominant media type will have to ensure they are delivering viewable ads.

How do we classify viewability for video ads?

A video ad is viewable when at least 50% of the ad’s pixels are visible on a screen for at least two consecutive seconds, as defined by the Media Rating Council (MRC), in conjunction with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

What factors affect viewability for video ads?

  • Device: Video ads are more easily viewed on mobile (73%) or tablet (81%) devices than desktop (64%).1
  • Location: 76% of non viewable video ads were never on screen at all, for instance because they are on tabs situated behind the one the user is looking at.2 Additionally, videos positioned in the center of the page and towards the top are the most visible locations on the page.3
  • Player Size: Bigger players deliver better viewability. The most popular player size of 300x250 offers only 20% viewability whereas the 848x477 is the second most popular size but offers a huge improvement of 89% viewability.4

What can you do to improve viewability in your video content?

  • Choose a bigger player: Larger player sizes have been shown to have a positive correlation with viewability and other key metrics that advertisers care about, so advertisers are increasingly targeting them. In Q1 2016 on DBM, growth in spend on large players outpaced all other player sizes combined by 17%.5
  • Spread your content: The average viewability of video ads across the web is 66%, whereas YouTube offers 93%.6 Hosting your video content on YouTube as well as on your site could allow you to benefit from this uplift.
  • Be more mobile: Mobile friendly sites that encourage traffic from mobile devices and tablets can increase viewability for video ads. For example YouTube viewability rises to 95% on mobile devices.7
  • Give video content top billing: As we’ve seen above, placing content at the top of the page in the center and using a larger player size both increase viewability. So give your video content the highest possible profile on the page to increase viewability.

Next steps

Alongside your work on video viewability, you’ll want to make sure you have the right tools in place for managing the video ads you serve. To make sure you’ve got the right tools in place, have a chat with one of our experts. They can offer a personalized consultation to help you make the right choice for your business. Book a slot.


https://goo.gl/c5MWaa

  1. https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://storage.googleapis.com/doubleclick-prod/documents/State_of_Play_-_Video_Insights_Report__v23.pdf 
  2. https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/5-factors-of-video-viewability.pdf
  3. https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/5-factors-of-video-viewability.pdf
  4. https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/5-factors-of-video-viewability.pdf
  5. https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/articles/global-state-play-programmatic-video-insights-report/
  6. https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://storage.googleapis.com/doubleclick-prod/documents/State_of_Play_-_Video_Insights_Report__v23.pdf
  7. https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://storage.googleapis.com/doubleclick-prod/documents/State_of_Play_-_Video_Insights_Report__v23.pdf

Source: Inside AdSense


Viewability is vital for publisher business growth

In the fourth article of the #SuccessStack, we explore viewability and its increasing importance in retaining and growing ad revenues for your publishing business. We’ve recently received a lot of questions on viewability from our AdSense publisher community, so this post should answer the most frequently asked ones.

What is viewability?

Media Rating Council (MRC) and IAB standards state that a display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of the ad is within the viewable space on the user’s screen for one second or more.

Why is it important for your ad revenue? 

An ad served doesn’t necessarily equal an ad viewed, and digital advertisers and publishers are catching onto this as the industry shifts toward valuing viewable rather than served impressions. This is because ads that are considered viewable have a higher chance of being seen and are more likely to engage an advertiser's target audience.

As a result, more savvy advertisers are paying closer attention to ad viewability and it is increasingly becoming a factor in their decision making around ad spend.

If an ad isn't seen, it can't have an impact, change perception, or build brand trust. That's why measuring viewability matters. For AdSense publishers, this means that increased viewability may encourage greater investments from advertisers.

Let’s get started

Before you get to work on increasing viewability, make sure you choose the right tool to give yourself the best possible potential earnings. To help you with this, be sure to schedule a free consultation with one of our experts who can help you to choose the right solution for your business.

How can you increase the viewable impressions delivered by your site? 

1. Put ad units just above the fold.
Interestingly, ads placed just above the fold of a web page produce higher viewability metrics than those at the top of the page. Try horizontal ad unit sizes, e.g. 320x100 for optimal increase in viewability metrics. It’s important to note that it's against the AdSense ad placement policies to place a 300x250 ad unit above the fold on mobile pages, so be sure to place those larger ad sizes below the fold. 

Bonus tip: Switch 320x50 for 320x100 ad units.

Replacing your 320x50 ad units with 320x100 on your mobile device can improve viewability and potentially increase earnings. Revenue per thousand impressions (RPMs) tends to increase when you move to the larger mobile banner ad. This is because using the 320x100 ad unit allows both the 320x50 ad and the 320x100 to compete for the same ad space, doubling the fill-rate competition. It’s best practice to put the ad just above the fold as mentioned above, which could further boost your revenues.

2. Use mobile-friendly ad formats.

Mobile is becoming an ever more important part of online ad sales. Here are three mobile friendly ad formats to try:

  • Use large high impact ad units such as the medium rectangle (300x250), large rectangle (336x280) and large mobile banner (320x100) to get the best results. The first two work well on desktop and mobile (below the fold), with the third being designed specifically for mobile. 
  • AdSense also offers two kinds of page-level mobile ad formats, anchor ads and vignettes. Both are designed to increase mobile viewability. 

Once you’ve implemented the tips above, you can find even more advanced best practice viewability tips in this infographic.

Source: Inside AdSense


Global Spotlight: Converting pageviews into revenue

Welcome back to our Global Spotlight on India, a nation with a population of over 1 billion people and 22 official languages (not including English) which for current AdSense publishers, this presents an opportunity to grow your audience globally.

The Global Spotlight is a series of blog posts that can help educate, inspire, and provide you with insights into how you can grow your business and share your content in emerging markets.


Our last spotlight shared insights on why you should cater to mobile first users.  Now that you have a site optimized for mobile users and with  high quality, relevant content, here’s how you can convert your traffic into revenue and turn your #PassionIntoProfit.


First, deliver more viewable impressions to get your ads seen. Measuring viewability is extremely important, because if an ad isn't seen, it can't have an impact, change perception, or build brand trust. Here’s a few ways to boost ad viewability on mobile devices:


  1. Replace 320x50 ad units with 320x100 
  2. Move ads at least 150 pixels away from content to cut accidental clicks
  3. Use page-level ads designed for mobile devices. More on page levels below

Learn more tips on boosting mobile ad viewability in this blog post.

Second, choose the right mobile ad sizes: medium rectangle (300x250), large rectangle (336x280), large mobile banner (320x100), and rectangular responsive ad units. They tend to get the best results.

Third, use page-level ads. You’ve heard this from us before haven’t you? Page-level ads are a family of ad formats that offer a new and innovative way to help you earn money from your mobile content. They’re designed to automatically show the right mobile ad format at the right time - potentially increasing your earnings without interfering with your users’ mobile experience.
 
There you have it, our 3-step strategy to help you expand, or start, your site in India. 
  1. Do your research
    1. Use Google’s research tools
    2. Understand the users in India
    3. Apply your micro-moments strategy
  2. Go mobile or don’t go at all. And make it fast. 
    1. Understand how mobile devices are used
    2. Increase your page speed
    3. Leverage Google’s mobile resources
  3. Convert page views into revenue 
    1. Optimizing for viewability
    2. Use the right ad sizes
    3. Try Page-level ads
Do you want to hear more from us about successfully monetizing your content in India? We regularly host live Hangout on Air sessions to talk through best practices and ways to grow your business. Be sure to register for our next live session on November 17th.

If you’re new to AdSense, turn your #PassionIntoProfit today and sign up for Google AdSense.

 
Be sure to follow AdSense on Twitter to learn more tips on optimizing your account and stay tuned for more posts from our Global Spotlight series in the future!

Source: Inside AdSense


Increase the speed of your mobile site with this toolkit

Cross-Posted from the DoubleClick for Publishers blog

Last month we released a new study, "The need for mobile speed", highlighting the impact of mobile latency on publisher revenue. Simply having your site load on a mobile device is no longer enough: Mobile sites have to be fast and relevant. The study analyzed 10,000+ mobile web domains, and from the results we gained several insights about the impact of mobile latency on user experience.



Critically, the study also revealed strong correlations between page speed and the following key performance indicators:
  1. Revenue
  2. Bounce rate
  3. Session duration
  4. Viewability


It’s clear mobile speed matters to the success of publisher sites, but making mobile load times a priority doesn’t always make achieving speed easy. To help you build a faster mobile web experience, we’ve created a mobile web speed toolkit. It outlines a 4-step process to diagnose and fix mobile speed issues:
  1. Measure your site’s performance.
  2. Assess the different components impacting speed.
  3. Prioritize the order your site loads.
  4. Test, remeasure and repeat to improve your site speed.
The mobile web speed toolkit offers tactical recommendations to begin achieving mobile speed. 


The relationship between page speed and publisher revenue is clearer than ever before. Small improvements to your mobile site may yield big gains for your mobile revenue, so get your copy of the mobile web speed toolkit and start making changes today. 

#SpeedMatters

Posted by: Jay Castro
AdSense team

Source: Inside AdSense


Deliver more viewable impressions to get your ads seen



Viewability is a trendy word in the advertising world. This popular metric has become key for advertisers to measure the success of an ad campaign. But what is Viewability?

Viewability is the measurement of a viewable ad impression, meaning that it has appeared within a user’s browser and had the opportunity to be seen. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) defines a viewable impression as an ad that meets the following criteria:

50% of the ad’s pixels are visible in the browser window for a continuous one second.

Think with Google says “If an ad isn't seen, it can't have an impact, change perception, or build brand trust. That's why measuring viewability matters.” For AdSense publishers, this means that increased viewability may encourage greater investments from advertisers.

Global events are opportunities for advertisers to connect with larger audiences and create brand awareness. For advertisers with these goals in mind, viewability matters. Here are a few resources to help get your ads seen this summer.


See Google’s Active View in action and move towards delivering more viewable impressions this summer.

New to AdSense? Sign up now and start drawing the crowd.


Posted by Barbara Sarti, from the AdSense team

Source: Inside AdSense


Four ways to boost your ad viewability on mobile

What’s ad viewability and how is it measured? In this post we'll look at those questions and offer four ways to make your ads more viewable and profitable on mobile screens.


What’s viewability?

Most of us know that ads used to be measured by impressions: if a page loaded, and the ad was anywhere on that page, that counted. There was an obvious problem with this: if the ad was below the fold of the page, and the user didn't scroll down to see it, there wasn’t a chance for that ad to be seen. And ads that can’t be seen, don’t deliver results and can’t drive the impact that Advertisers are looking for.

Advertisers today want more transparency and effectiveness, and that's where ad viewability comes in. Now, by Media Rating Council and IAB standards, a display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of the ad is within the viewable space on the user’s screen for one second or more.

That means an ad unit on the first screen ("above the fold") will be counted as viewable if a user opens the screen for one second, but an ad below the first screen will not be counted unless the viewer scrolls down. Check out this interactive demo to see how viewability works first hand.

Why does viewability matter?

Advertisers naturally tend to bid more for viewable impressions because they have a higher chance of being seen and as a result more likely to engage an advertiser's target audience. 

Smart advertisers are paying closer attention to the ads that they are paying for and are looking to ensure that the ads they buy have a chance to be seen by users. One way to track viewability is to check the Active View index in AdSense; it shows the percentage of ads that are viewable out of the total number of ads counted on the page. If one out of two ads are viewable, the rating is 50%.  

Viewability helps both advertisers and publishers. It lets advertisers identify their high- and low-value inventory and adjust budgets and targets to maximize reach and ROI. As they learn which inventory has the highest viewability, advertisers can better set their advertising strategies.

For publishers like you, focusing on viewability will increase the long-term value of your inventory. If an ad unit is rarely viewed, you may learn that viewers don't scroll to that area, quickly scroll past it, or that the ad size or format may need adjustment. You can discover the most (and least) valuable spots on your pages and optimize your ad units accordingly, rather than just scattering as many ads as possible.

How do I create more viewable impressions on mobile?

While numbers vary, a viewability index of around 50% is fairly typical. In general, the higher the index, the more people are seeing your ads ― although few sites reach 100%. On smaller mobile screens, publishers should consider which ad sizes earn them the most in different placements on their pages.

Here are four ways publishers can optimize their mobile viewability:

  1. Replace 320x50 ad units with 320x100. Revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) tend to increase when you move to the large mobile banner ad. By using the 320x100 ad unit, you allow the 320x50 ad to compete as well, doubling the fill-rate competition. The best practice is to put the ad just above the fold.
  2. Use 300x250 ads for a potential increase in fill rates and RPMs. 300x250 is built to fit most mobile screens. It also tends to have a high fill rate (and higher RPMs) since many advertisers prefer this size. Research has shown that a 300x250 ad unit placed just below the fold could generate an approximate 50% viewability rate, helping you to maximize the impact of your ad space.
  3. Cut accidental clicks by moving ads at least 150 pixels away from content. As you improve viewability, you can also improve the user experience and decrease spam rates by leaving room between ads and the context. 150 pixels of space is a good starting point; test and adjust to see what works best with your content.
  4. Use page-level ads designed for mobile devices. To keep pace with the trend to mobile, Google AdSense has launched two kinds of page-level ads: anchor ads and vignettes. Both are designed to increase mobile viewability. Anchor ads, as their name implies, stick to the bottom of the page as the user scrolls. They are smooth and easily dismissed, and they are typically reserved for high RPM ads. 

Vignettes are full-screen ads that appear as users move between pages on a website. These pre-loaded ads display immediately as the user leaves a page, so there's no waiting, and users can dismiss them at any time. Vignettes are reserved for the highest-paying ad impressions.

Summary

Viewability is a publisher's friend. It can help you understand the real performance of every ad to improve your strategy for ad formats and placement. It can also help you increase your revenues in a smarter way. 

Viewability is still relatively new in digital advertising. More and more advertisers are taking the index into account as they allocate future budgets. If you're a publisher, it's a good idea to get ahead of the curve on viewability data and start making adjustments now. Take a look at this infographic for more best practices on how to improve the viewability of your site.



Posted by Silu Luo, from the AdSense Team

Source: Inside AdSense


Boost your mobile performance with the right ad sizes

We’re paying special attention to improving the mobile ad experience to help empower content creators, news organizations, and publishers. As mobile continues to grow, choosing high-impact mobile ads are key for businesses to generate revenue from a mobile audience.

When choosing the right mobile ad units for your business, it’s a best practice to ensure that each and every mobile impression receives the highest value possible, which can be determined by a mix of metrics like viewability, size, placement, and demand.

It’s also important to protect the user experience by choosing the right ad formats and placements for your site to engage mobile users so that you don’t interrupt their desired intent.

Start by choosing a high-impact mobile format: medium rectangle (300x250), large rectangle (336x280), large mobile banner (320x100), and rectangular responsive ad units tend to get the best results. Here’s why we recommend these formats:


  • Each format works well on both desktop and mobile (with the exception of the large mobile banner). This gives advertisers the opportunity to appear on a variety of screens which increases demand, upward auction pressure, and potentially even earnings. The large mobile banner will also allow 320x50 display ads to appear within this format, which increases competition. If the 320x50 ad unit wins the auction, it will always be vertically aligned to the top.
  • These formats are bigger and more engaging than smaller mobile units, so they'll grab user's’ attention. Here's an example of what the medium rectangle looks like placed above the fold, yet below the main content.

For additional changes for incremental revenue gains, you may want to consider trying link units. Link units are designed to be responsive, so they work with both mobile and desktop. You can add up to three link units in addition to the default limit of 3 ad units per page.

However critical mobile is to your business today, it will be more critical tomorrow. Energize your mobile strategy today by using high-impact mobile ads, they’re a great way for businesses to generate more revenue and engage your users. 


Be sure to follow us on Google+ and Twitter we’d love to hear what’s working for your mobile business. Until next time.


Posted by:

Denis Rodrigues,
AdSense Account Strategist






Source: Inside AdSense


Viewability Spotlight for Sellers: 3 loading methods that can optimize your viewability

Our latest infographic puts a spotlight on viewability by sharing a dozen technical best practices for improving viewability based on insights from Active View, Google's MRC-accredited viewable impression measurement technology.

On this blog, we're breaking down the best practices into small, approachable chunks. Already, we've focused on 2 tips for enabling viewability measurement, 3 speedy ways to improve viewability, and 4 ways to improve ad layouts for better viewability. In this post you'll learn 3 content and ad loading methods that can optimize your viewability rates.

Here is today's recommendation:



We hope these recommendations are improving your site or apps ad viewability. Feel free to share your viewability success story in the comments section below.

Posted by Anish Kattukaran 

Source: Inside AdSense


Viewability Spotlight for Sellers: 3 loading methods that can optimize your viewability

Our latest infographic puts a spotlight on viewability by sharing a dozen technical best practices for improving viewability based on insights from Active View, Google's MRC-accredited viewable impression measurement technology.

On this blog, we're breaking down the best practices into small, approachable chunks. Already, we've focused on 2 tips for enabling viewability measurement, 3 speedy ways to improve viewability, and 4 ways to improve ad layouts for better viewability. In this post you'll learn 3 content and ad loading methods that can optimize your viewability rates.

Here is today's recommendation:

We hope these recommendations are improving your site or apps ad viewability. Feel free to share your viewability success story in the comments section below.

Posted by Anish Kattukaran,
Product Marketing Manager

Source: Inside AdMob


Viewability Spotlight for Sellers: 4 ways to improve ad layouts for better viewability

Our latest infographic puts a spotlight on viewability by sharing a dozen technical best practices for improving viewability based on insights from Active View, Google's MRC-accredited viewable impression measurement technology.

On this blog, we're breaking down the best practices into small, approachable chunks. Already, we've focused on 2 tips for enabling viewability measurement, and 3 speedy ways to improve viewability. In this post you'll learn tips for laying out ads on a webpage or scrollable page in an app in order to improve viewability rates.

Here is today's recommendation:




We hope these recommendations are improving your site or apps ad viewability. Feel free to share your viewability success story in the comments section below.

In the next part of our Spotlight on Viewability, we'll share 3 content and ad loading methods that can improve viewability.

Posted by Anish Kattukaran 

Source: Inside AdSense