Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Recommends Marketers to Pay for ‘Measurably Viewable’ Digital Advertisements

NEW YORK (April 27, 2015) – The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) today advised its membership to transition their digital investment strategies to pay for digital advertisements that are measurably viewable. Speaking to a cross-industry audience at the 2015 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, ANA CEO Bob Liodice stated that marketers’ digital ad investments must satisfy the minimum Opportunity to See (OTS) requirements.

The Viewable Impression Guidelines outlined by the Media Rating Council, in conjunction with Making Measurement Make Sense, state that an “Opportunity to See” occurs when 50 percent of a display ad’s pixels are in the viewable portion of a browser for one continuous second and a minimum of two continuous seconds for video ads.

“We recognize that the digital advertising community is adapting to the strategically superior platform of “viewability”. We also recognize that there are technical challenges in this transition phase. However, the transition must be accelerated as marketers have a clear focus to pay only for what is viewable. This would put digital ad buying on a comparable foundation -- consistent with other forms of media buying” Liodice said.

“The Viewable Impression is a measure of a viewer’s Opportunity to See. It is not a measure of engagement nor is it a metric for campaign efficacy. But it needs to be a critically important starting point in the ad negotiations process among marketers, agencies and publishers. If an ad is not viewable, then the marketer should not bear the obligation to pay for it,” Liodice continued. “It is important that the industry understands this distinction so that all parties can transact campaigns fairly and understandably.”


About the ANA

The mission of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is to drive growth for marketing professionals, brands and businesses, the industry, and humanity. The ANA serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.