As the number of ad networks and ad exchanges continue to grow, so has the need for ad verification services — and more fundamentally — standards.
This week IAB announced it was assembling a working group on this issue. The goal will be to develop and present a set of standard protocols that any agency ad server could implement to address the proofs of viewability advertisers desire, in a manner that protects the contents of the page.
Industry Measures
The ad industry is already moving in this direction, especially for formats that offer performance guarantees. Pretarget promises its banner ads are within view on a user's screen in the ad exchange environment. It is using the comScore-AdXpose display ad validation technology to enable the format, called Opportunity to View measurement.
BrightRoll introduced an audience guarantee to advertisers in which they only have to pay for the impressions that reach their target audiences. comScore's AdEffx Campaign Essentials serves as the verification provider.
Other industry developments include DoubleVerify, which recently launched Navigator, a monitoring and reporting tool to help ad networks and platforms expand publisher on-boarding while monitoring their network.
Another relatively new product has been introduced by AdSafe Media - the AdSafe Engagement Quality Ratings. These new ratings work within AdSafe's existing protection and verification products but are also designed to enhance the RTB process, pre-bid.
Also in August, Comscore acquired ad verification firm AdXpose. The AdXpose system will be part of Comscore's Campaign Essentials product, bolstering campaign measurement capabilities.
IAB's Standards
Will the IAB standards mimic any of these offerings" Impossible to say, although a hint of how the association envisions their direction is provided by Steve Sullivan, VP, Digital Supply Chain Solutions, IAB, in a blog post, discussing the limitation of iFrame.
"To know the viewable state of an ad, special functionality served into the browser with the ad examines the page and determines when the ad becomes viewable to a consumer. This is possible only when that functionality has programmatic access to the contents of the page on which it is rendered (referred to as the Document Object Model or DOM)."
However, he says, many ads, especially those from blind networks and exchanges, are served into a sealed container called a cross-domain iFrame (in-line Frame). "Under these circumstances, the special "viewable" functionality is not able to accurately report to the advertiser if their ad was viewable by a consumer."
