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Despite Tropical Storm Andrea’s downpour last week, ad tech industry folks gathered at the IAB Ad Lab for a breakfast webinar to discuss the hot topic of measurement and viewability. As part of the industry initiative between IAB, 4A’s, ANA driving to make measurement make sense (3MS), these industry leaders presented some of the progress that has been made in this area, and the challenges that still exist.

George Ivie, CEO / Executive Director for the Media Ratings Council (MRC), kicked it off by presenting the current roadmap for viewability both in display and video. With a brief, inspiring speech from the ANA, we then dove into a panel discussion with John Montgomery, COO, GroupM Interaction, Michael Zimbalist, VP, Research and Development, NY Times, and Eric Franchi, Co-founder, Undertone. This group represents every segment of digital advertising – agencies, publishers, and networks – and the discussion focused on what viewability will mean for the industry and for each segment when it comes to currency, quality and ultimately, what it will take to drive the industry forward in order to gain more brand dollars shifted to digital media.this area, and the challenges that still exist.

The discussion did get a bit heated when the buyers and sellers in the room began to debate questions like:

• Will there be higher CPMs for viewable impressions?
• What duration of time should be used when creating a baseline standard for viewable video ads?
• How will publishers adjust their inventory to align with the impending viewable impressions standards?
• Will they lose out on revenue?
• What role does content play?

All of the positions were logical if you applied a “see through their eyes” approach but the one thing everyone agreed upon – viewable impressions will become the norm, a currency on which advertisers will want to buy media that have an opportunity to be viewed. This is the telltale sign that there is nothing that can derail the viewability train at this point. As important is the fact that it will be here before we know it, so don’t get caught off guard and under-prepared. As a key measurement firm in the industry, we feel strongly about transparency of data and reporting, and are working diligently with industry leaders to do our part in driving this initiative forward.

But we also need to consider a critical next step when speaking about viewability, the “opportunity to see” is the simplistic binary measure, but to bring true value the focus must quickly shift to questions around campaign performance:

• How does viewability affect my campaign KPIs?
• What is the impact of viewable impressions as it relates to brand lift metrics?
• How can I incorporate viewability to enhance my attribution model?
• How long must an ad be in view to increase my target audience’s purchase intent?

For a brand, these are THE factors that will play a much larger role in leveraging viewability and determining how many more dollars to allocate to digital.

Smart brand marketers will continue to measure campaign viewability now to gather initial learnings and not just “stay ahead of the curve,” but have an informed voice in shaping the conversation. That’s why we’re putting a lot of effort into our technology solutions to make our data make sense for our advertisers, and make it actionable.With products like Ad VRF™ , we layer in viewability data (ViewAssure) along with audience reach and frequency to help advertisers get more actionable data, driving insights, which help to better optimize their campaigns. And with partnerships like our recent announcement with Compete and Dynamic Logic, we’ve even taken it one step further to combine audience reach/frequency with attitudinal measures to take the “opportunity to see” and move that to the “opportunity to impact.” Through Advance, a holistic media planning tool, you can see the viewable impressions against a target audience and how that campaign helped drive key measures like brand lift or purchase intent. Once a brand understands that let’s say, they need a creative to be in view for 8 seconds, 4+ times for their audience (males 18-34) to increase purchase intent, that brand can then further optimize their campaign against that metric to see real results.

And they can maximize their media spend. It’s not about working harder – just smarter.

The viewability discussion will inflate beyond just viewable vs. unviewable impressions. Those who begin to plan for that now will have a tremendous headstart in planning smarter campaigns.

Even though it seems like a long time ago, it was just last week that hundreds of internet tech geeks converged in NY for the annual Internet Week NY (#IWNY) conference. From late night parties, networking events and a ton of content, it was a time for us in the industry to take a moment to reflect on trends, what’s working, and how we can come together to build a better industry.

A top attended session included a fireside chat with the outspoken Joan Rivers, which could have been called #NoFilter for the outrageous comments she made (although it was  good for a chuckle). With sessions from OMMA on mobile, video, social and data to the Conversational Marketing (#CMSummit) hosted by John Battelle, the focus seemed to stay on track as usual – about content, screens, devices, engagement and, of course, monetization.

From the “Webby Sessions with Human of New York founder Brandon Stanton,” the topic seemed to shift to the ability of the internet to connect people together for good. During the talk, he referenced the pain that “mean spirited” individuals can inflict, especially when they are cloaked in anonymity on the internet. However, he noted that the internet community can be amazingly supportive, and quick to rally around positive causes. In most forums, Internet “trolls” are quickly outed, because the community generally prefers a stable environment, where people are comfortable sharing. There will always be those who are malicious, but in general people prefer to operate in a comfortable, welcoming and transparent system.

This resonated with our team at DoubleVerify, as while it may seem at times that it’s the “wild wild west” out there, with fraudsters attempting to steal impressions from advertisers, we still believe there a lot of good advertising to be had online. There will always be people working to defraud, it’s important to know that most people want a better, safer and more transparent internet.

Tom Rogers from Media6Degrees actually called out to the industry a call for change – with a message to the audience that it’s “time to take a stand – go cold turkey and stop fraud.” And in the spirit of Internet Week, he asked attendees to tweet their support with the hashtag #ChangeItUp.

We agree. How will you change it up?

We all know the analogy of “if a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” The same is true for online media – if an impression is served but it’s not viewable, does it matter? For advertisers – it does, as they are paying on served impressions, viewable or not. We’re aiming to build a better industry by bringing solutions like viewability to the forefront, creating more effective ad campaigns for advertisers, and providing technology for networks, exchanges and other sell side platforms to get more granular data to improve ad delivery and performance.

The power of viewable data is mostly untapped, as more and more agencies adopt this metric, we’ll see much smarter campaign optimization based on the findings. Layer in brand exposure time, and we’ll be able to get insight into what the optimal viewing time per ad would be – which can then lead to more effective ad creative, or different decisions on placement on the page, or even ad unit itself.

Taking this one step further, what if those viewability metrics were to combine with other exposure stats like audience composition and reach? Or even if those were to then be compared to effectiveness measures for brand lift and conversions? Media planners would have a unique set of data points to ensure their ad buy would as impactful as possible.

Now that data combination is a reality, with a new solution called Advance^TM – an integrated solution that provides marketers the insights needed to optimize digital media campaigns based on brand, behavioral and sales impact. Launched this week in a joint effort with Compete and Dynamic Logic, we’re proud to provide important viewability data to complete this robust reporting and optimization system.

By empowering digital media companies like Compete and Dynamic Logic with the viewability data that the industry needs to see through iFrames, and at the impression level, we’re equipped to lead the charge for better transparency, efficiency and smarter online media campaigns, ultimately driving more revenue into the online ecosystem with real value for advertisers to gain measurable results.

To learn more about this solution, read the full press release here.

Today DoubleVerify announced the full deployment of a technology breakthrough in Fraud detection.  This breakthrough enabled us to uncover elaborate advertising Fraud activity that originated from ad impressions on over 1,200 websites classified as copyright infringement. We also released a DV Fraud Lab Report, DoubleVerify uncovers Ad Fraud benefiting Copyright Infringement Sites, Costing Online Advertisers $6.8M per month, which provides the full details of this Fraud analysis and how the new product enhancements improve our industry-leading, MRC-accredited verification services.  The DoubleVerify blocking, monitoring and inventory integration products are now identifying and protecting our customers from activity on these Fraudulent sites and proactively for similar occurrences that may occur in the future.

DoubleVerify data scientists analyzed over 1,000 advertiser campaigns delivering more than 10 billion impressions on 3 million plus websites in a recent 30-day period to reveal just how wide-ranging this most recent Fraud activity was:

• Over 1,200 websites in copyright infringement categories were laundering ad impressions through a set of seemingly legitimate sites with advertiser-friendly content.
• 3.0% of all Network/RTB-purchased impressions were delivered via sites participating in this Fraudulent activity.
• 0.1% of Publisher-purchased impressions were delivered via sites participating in this Fraudulent activity.  This likely occurs when publishers purchase 3^rd-party inventory for audience extension or other off-site fulfillment programs.
• DoubleVerify estimates that nearly $6.8 million dollars per month is siphoned away from advertisers and legitimate inventory sellers due to media buys on the sites participating in this Fraud.

This massive Fraud activity originates from user traffic on websites classified as copyright infringement. These sites have two primary characteristics that spur them to resort to impression laundering Fraud:

• Significant consumer interest that drives substantial site traffic, combined with
• Low advertiser interest in appearing on the site because of objectionable content

The ad impressions from this traffic are ‘laundered’ through a complex series of redirects that make the ads appear as though they originated on legitimate sites containing advertiser-friendly content. Further, the Fraudulent ads use code hiding the ad creative from being displayed in the user’s browser, resulting in advertisers paying for impressions that are never seen. Many of our advertisers view this as a particularly insidious form of online advertising Fraud.  Imagine a movie studio’s anger upon discovering that not only are they being bilked out of their marketing dollars because of online advertising Fraud, but that the nefarious funds are funneled back to sites they are actively trying to avoid because their activity damages their primary revenue stream of selling or licensing their intellectual property.

“Copyright infringement is a significant issue that is siphoning dollars away from the creative community,” said Jon Taplin, Director of Annenberg Innovation Lab, who has been working to drive awareness of and bring transparency to advertising on copyright infringement sites. “DoubleVerify’s identification of this impression laundering Fraud is a significant milestone towards cutting off the funds that these sites need to continue their operations. DoubleVerify’s technology and verification solutions are a welcome addition to the tools that advertisers, agencies, networks and exchanges can employ to ensure that advertising dollars are not contributing to the problem of copyright infringement.”

Integration of these Fraud detection breakthroughs into our MRC-accredited Fraud-Detection and Verification solutions enhances DoubleVerify’s industry-leading platform in both of the critical elements necessary for fully effective protection against online advertising Fraud.

The first needed element of an effective Fraud-protection solution is timely and comprehensive identification of participants.  As a leader in the ongoing fight against emerging Fraud techniques we are continuously identifying and adding sites with the telltale signs of display advertising Fraud to our classification system.  This recent technology breakthrough allowed us to take our site identification to a whole new level.  It facilitated the initial discovery of Fraud participants and was enhanced using new algorithms from our Fraud Lab data scientists, which together resulted in the comprehensive mapping of the sites engaged in this impression laundering Fraud.  This resulted in our solutions providing additional protection against over 1,200 sites that are now classified as participating in Ad Impression Fraud.  Perhaps more importantly, the deployment of these fingerprinting techniques and expansion mapping algorithms into our verification solution speeds the future protection from additional sites engaged in Fraudulent activity of a similar nature.

The second required element of an effective Fraud-protection solution is an ability to fully penetrate the transparency gap created by an complicated and/or obfuscated ad-serving chain. Overcoming the transparency gap allows DoubleVerify to correctly identify every site involved in the transaction (especially where the traffic originated for laundered impressions) so that effective Fraud protection can occur.  DoubleVerify fully incorporated the recent technology enhancements into our dual-verification (crawler and pixel) technology to penetrate complex, obfuscated and Fraudulent ad-serving chains and in order to provide our customers the most effective Fraud-protection solution.

We believe that pre-bid Fraud solutions that rely on the URL supplied by the RTB provider often can’t provide effective protection from online advertising Fraud.  Our data scientists recently examined impressions running through major online ad exchanges. They discovered that the RTB transparency gap on the pre-bid URL was nearly 30%. The RTB transparency gap occurs when the URL the ad is displayed on differs from the URL utilized by the exchange for pre-bid Fraud prevention, blacklist compliance, or other URL-based targeting or blocking. The RTB transparency gap often may be caused by legitimate, non-Fraudulent complexity in the ecosystem — but impression laundering that further obfuscates the serving chain certainly adds to this discrepancy. Pre-bid Fraud-protection solutions simply have not overcome the RTB transparency gap and therefore can’t provide effective protection against Fraud for the advertiser.

The only effective method for Fraud prevention is employing a solution that combines accurate Fraud identification with technology that eliminates the transparency gap across all impressions.  DoubleVerify offers MRC-accredited verification solutions to marketers that lead the market in these areas.  Advertisers deploying our BrandShield proactive blocking solution have the highest protection through the immediate elimination of ads to Fraudulent sites.  Those brands using the BrandAssure monitoring solution will see the sites flagged as non-compliant within their reports and their dedicated Performance Management team will actively work with them and their inventory partners to remove these sites from the buy. Our real-time platform integration solution, BrandShield Connect, provides ad networks and exchanges the technology necessary to penetrate the transparency gap and preemptively identify the safety of the ad impression before it is sold. All of our solutions were enhanced from this technology breakthrough and further extended our market-leading position in the two critical elements, participant identification and transparency gap elimination, for effective Fraud protection.

DoubleVerify remains committed to eliminating all types of Fraud and driving accountability and performance measurement in online advertising to maintain the value of the medium and credibility of its participants so that together we can build a better industry.  We are proud that this technology advancement provides enhanced protection against online advertising Fraud for our customers as well as a reduction in funding for sites identified not adequately protecting intellectual property rights. We believe these are meaningful steps toward the ongoing delivery against this commitment.

PS – If you want to join us in building a better industry, DoubleVerify is hiring!

Fraud Definition and Clarifications

• DoubleVerify’s MRC-accredited Verification solutions utilize two content categories to classify sites as Fraud and provide clarity for our customers:

Confirmed Ad Impression Fraud – Sites with significant direct evidence confirming that Ad Impression Fraud is taking place.  Ad Impression Fraud manipulates ad serving, ad display or traffic activity such that ad impression measurements are incremented inappropriately because the ads cannot be seen by a user, are not served within operationally viewable parameters or were displayed as a result of machine-generated traffic.

Suspected Ad Impression Fraud – Sites with significant circumstantial evidence that Ad Impression Fraud is taking place such as site data, traffic patterns, viewability data and relationships to sites with Confirmed Ad Impression Fraud. Ad Impression Fraud manipulates ad serving, ad display or traffic activity such that ad impression measurements are incremented inappropriately because the ads cannot be seen by a user, are not served within operationally viewable parameters or were displayed as a result of machine-generated traffic.

• For the purposes of this post, any description of Fraud means Ad Impression Fraud.  Sites described as Fraudulent means those in this study that we have classified into the “Confirmed Ad Impression Fraud” or “Suspected Ad Impression Fraud” contextual categories.  Fraudulent activity or Fraudulent impressions means the advertising impressions on Fraudulent Sites

• As used by the IAB Verification Guidelines, DoubleVerify contextual category definitions, this post, and related releases and reports, the use of the words Fraud, Fraud Site, Ad Impression Fraud, Fraud activity, Laundering, Laundering Site and other related terms are not intended to represent Fraud or Laundering as defined in various laws, statutes and ordinances or as conventionally used in U.S. Court or other legal proceedings, but rather a custom definition strictly for advertising measurement purposes.

• The statements made in this post regarding Fraud all relate to DoubleVerify’s observations and data collection during April 2013.  These statements shall not be construed to imply information or conclusions regarding activity that took place outside of the studied period.

The 2012 IAB Advertising Technology Marketplace gathers industry leaders to discuss the many developments, opportunities, and impact of technology on the industry as we work together to reduce complexity and assure quality across the digital media ecosystem.

We are extremely thrilled to participate in this year’s event. DoubleVerify will be sponsoring four sessions educating the industry on how our latest solution, AdView, can help address many of the challenges advertisers and media sellers are faced with when it comes to effectively measuring ad campaigns and brand exposure. If you are attending the event, please be sure to join Mark Pearlstein, our very own SVP of Business Development as he leads this discussion on the 5th floor in room 502 during the following times:

2:25-2:40pm
2:45-3:00pm
3:05-3:20pm
3:25-3:40pm

For more information or to contact the DoubleVerify representatives that will be in attendance at the IAB Advertising Technology Marketplace please send your requests to them directly:

Jon Blinderman, Director of Publisher Sales (jon.blinderman@doubleverify.com)
Mark Pearlstein, SVP of Business Development (mark.pearlstein@doubleverify.com)
Paul Audino, SVP of National Sales (paul.audino@doubleverify.com)

The theme of ad viewability seems to constantly be at the cornerstone of every conversation in the industry recently. Since Viewability is on everyone’s minds it is not surprising that more and more products are emerging to address the concerns of buyers and publishers. MediaPost’s Steve Smith explored this conversation further in a great article entitled, “Being Seen: Chasing Viewability”. The article highlights the change to a viewable impressions standard over a served impressions standard and the effect that can have on online ad campaigns.

As Smith notes, like other aspects of digital advertising viewability measurement is another way to try to gain accountability in the complex ad ecosystem, which has always been a mission of DoubleVerify’s. Smith goes on to state, “Viewable impressions are also an opportunity for the display industry to take more seriously a host of other issues about ad impact.” Our recently released product, AdView also helps address these other concerns such as time spent with an ad, page design and clutter which are all related issues.

As the discussion of viewability continues to be at the forefront of the minds of industry leaders, buyers, and publishers, DoubleVerify is proud to be addressing the needs and concerns of the market with our very own measurement platform. Learn more about how AdView can help you here.

To read MediaPost’s Steve Smith’s full article click here.

We are extremely thrilled to announce today, our partnership with Evidon which provides the industry with the first ever integrated privacy control and ad verification solution. Our measurement platform will allow Evidons’ clients globally to gain the benefits of both DoubleVerify’s measurement technology and Evidon’s InForm platform for In-Ad Notice as a fully integrated, single tag solution.

As the leading measurement platform DoubleVerify is constantly searching for better ways to satisfy the needs of the ever evolving online ad ecosystem. Agencies and advertisers have been looking to industry leaders to bring this level of service for quite some time. “This partnership with Evidon is just one great example of how clients can gain the best of both worlds through our platform”, says our very own CEO, Oren Netzer.

The best of breed integration provides a ‘One-Tag’ solution, which will streamline workflow for advertisers and agencies, and will enhance compliance industry-wide. DoubleVerify will transfer all existing OBA compliance relationships to Evidon and Evidon will be the sole DAA-approved provider in this integration partnership.

We are very pleased that together with Evidon we can serve clients with an easy to implement, best of breed solution which addresses multiple industry needs.

To read the full press release please click here.

DoubleVerify is extremely excited to announce the release of our highly anticipated product, AdView. DoubleVerify’s AdView is a technology solution that takes viewability of ad impressions to the next level by offering the most comprehensive brand exposure monitoring data. AdView can be used standalone or in conjunction with DoubleVerify’s leading verification technology to deliver granular data that is key to optimizing campaign performance.  DoubleVerify has submitted its unified verification and viewability offering to the Media Rating Council (MRC) for audit and is seeking accreditation of the AdView solution.

According to the IAB and Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) guidelines an ad is considered “viewed” only if at least 50% of the ad has been rendered within a user’s browser window for at least one second. AdView not only complies with these standards but exceeds these parameters by measuring brand exposure duration in multiple increments of five seconds, allowing a thorough analysis of data that impacts campaign effectiveness. Many marketers have different opinions about ideal viewability rates for measuring effective user engagement. AdView’s highly granular data, with brand exposure duration broken down by specific intervals equips them with information on actual user engagement.

The product was designed to address many challenges that different industry players are constantly facing when setting up their digital display campaigns. Agencies want to improve campaign effectiveness and make informed buying decisions while media sellers need data for better inventory management and better monetization of ad placements. AdView will provide the metrics which can address all of these issues.

AdView will be an integral addition to our product suite of solutions and will continue to deliver the level of service our customers have come to rely on. We are thrilled to get this product up and running in the marketplace and are happy to continuously be at the forefront of the ever evolving ad ecosystem.

To read the full press release please click here.

For more information regarding AdView or any other DoubleVerify products please contact one of our sales representatives at dvsales@doubleverify.com.

DoubleVerify is headed to Colorado Springs for the next few days to attend the iMedia Agency Summit. The theme of this year’s summit is keeping up with the consumer and we are extremely happy to be participating in the highly anticipated event. The agency summit will gather industry leaders to gain insight into consumer technology adoption, behaviors and expectations, as well as discuss the opportunity and cautions around data, measurement and privacy implications among exploring many other topics.

If you will be in attendance please join our SVP of National Sales, Paul Audino at 5:45pm on Sunday evening as he explores the best ways in which agencies can leverage DoubleVerify’s best of breed measurement platform to drive successful online media campaigns. You will not want to miss learning about the ways in which DoubleVerify can help address many of the constant challenges facing agencies and advertisers in the ever transforming online ad ecosystem.

For more information or to contact the DoubleVerify representatives that will be in attendance at the iMedia Agency Summit please send your requests to them directly:

Paul Audino, SVP of National Sales (paul.audino@doubleverify.com)

Leroy Holland, Director of Sales (Leroy.holland@doubleverify.com)

Lorenzo Moreno, Director of Sales (Lorenzo.moreno@doubleverify.com)

Elizabeth Kirk, Director of Sales (Elizabeth.kirk@doubleverify.com)

AdMonsters OPS is all about premium advertising. According to AdMonsters, premium advertising still drives about 80% of all online ad revenue. DoubleVerify is headed to the OPS London Conference tomorrow on May 15^th, to take part in discussions surrounding how agencies can innovate and grow profit through operations and technology.

If you will be in attendance at OPS London please join our UK Director of Sales, Michelle Lawrence as she highlights the best practices for display ad campaign optimization. Her session will take place tomorrow at 2:20pm and you will not want to miss all of her helpful hints and best tips!

For more information or to contact the DoubleVerify representative that will be in attendance at AdMonsters OPS please send your requests to them directly:

Michelle Lawrence, Director of UK Sales (michelle.lawrence@doubleverify.com)

Christine Poreca, Sales Manager (christine.poreca@doubleverify.com)