Media agencies keen to tackle ad viewability issues, audit body research suggests
Ad viewability is a key concern for the year ahead according to media agencies surveyed by the Audited Media Association of Australia.
More than half of the media agency staff surveyed (52%) believe the issue of an ad being seen is a key issue the industry needs to tackle in the next 12 months.
The result comes from the AMAA’s Trust Matters research which aims to provide insights into ad trading decisions and the data – channel data, audience data and ROI data – those decisions are based on.
The research was completed by research agency The Insights Grill and saw 15 qualitative interviews with the managing directors of some of Australia’s top media agencies and marketing directors for large national brands. The second part of the research was an online survey of 315 client-side marketers and media agency professionals.
While 52% of media agency professionals are concerned about the issue of ad viewability, just 36% of marketers interviewed saw it as an issue of pressing concern for the next 12 months.
Ad viewability is an issue that relates to the length and percentage of an ad/video that has been visible when it is charged for.
The focus on ad viewability as an issue needing to be addressed comes as both the UK market moves ahead by rolling out Viewability Principles through industry body ABC UK and JICWEBS.
Ryan: We need to step up what we do in regards to ad viewability
Josanne Ryan, CEO of the AMAA, said: “The overseas markets have moved ahead. In Australia we’re a little bit slower but we’re currently doing quite a lot of work with the MFA around viewability.
“We’re also working with the IAB around where do we head in the Australian market as at some point I’d anticipate we need to step up what we do and actually set up governance frameworks to ensure some of these issues are addressed.”
Marketers were more concerned with proof of performance metrics, with 66% of marketers surveyed suggesting proving metrics as an issue needs to be tackled by the industry in the next year while 45% of media agency professionals agreed.
Cross-media audience metrics came second on the list, with 59% of media agency professionals and 49% of marketers saying it should be looked at in the next year.
Around a third of both marketers (33%) and media agency professionals (38%) said ad blocking is the most important industry issue needing to be examined in the next year while non-human traffic was named by 32% of marketers and 31% of media agency staffers surveyed.
Proof of posting came next with 39% of marketers and 24% of media agency professionals listing it, while ad fraud and brand safety rounded out the list.
The research also examined trust levels of the metric behind the major channels across various the data used in ad trading decisions, with mobile data across the board rating consistently low.
Ryan said: “Consistently through this what has come through is that the mobile data is new and very fresh and isn’t quite where it needs to be.”
Looking at channel data, TV and print ranked as the most trusted when it comes to being transparent, verified and safe for brands while programmatic was the least trustworthy.
It suggests marketers prioritise the metrics behind the more “traditional” media channels print and TV.
Looking at the channel from an audience data perspective, marketers ranked programmatic display, outdoor and radio as equally those with the lowest trust while media professionals ranked mobile at the bottom.
“When we look at audience, you do tend to see that digital data comes up stronger because there’s so much of it and it’s so immediate,” Ryan said.
For marketers, online video was the most trusted, with search, social media and social coming in at second and tied-third place respectively. On the media agency side, online display took out the top spot.
“Online display is sitting up there above TV which is great for premium publishers delivering through private exchanges not in the programmatic space. It indicates they’re getting a lot of information and they feel it’s a pretty safe channel,” Ryan said.
When it comes to which channel metric provides proof of performance, marketers ranked search in the top spot, with media agency professionals tagging online display.
Print (audited) was the least trustworthy when it comes to effectiveness data for marketers, while mobile was at the bottom for media agency professionals.
The survey also asked participants to rank metric brands, such as Nielsen, Audited Bureau of Circulations and OzTAM, by trust.
“It’s heartening to see the ABC metric is so trusted, so agencies do trust it highly,” Ryan said.
Google Analytics claimed the top spot, just ahead of Audited Bureau of Circulations. Roy Morgan was next, with Nielsen and OzTAM tying at fourth spot.
Circulations Audit Board came next, with radio metric Gfk at sixth and Emma and the outdoor industry’s metric Move rounding out the list.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Great to see Roy Morgan up there as the number 1 trusted market research firm. A true victory for those that support and believe in the independence of this country’s media currency measurement.
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How come the digital channels are ranked lower than the so called “trusted” traditional channels?
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An awesome vote of confidence from the industry that Roy Morgan’s independently funded and measured media currency and audience metrics are the most trusted.
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@Tim – we’d recommend you look at the whole study for more detail on the trust across media channels. It’s available from http://www.auditedmedia.org.au
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@ the value of independence – Thanks for your comments – it was a very close race for the nine industry metrics we measured. What’s interesting is how the older metrics came out ahead (the ABC print circulation has been around for 80 years, and Roy Morgan almost as long) – suggesting trust takes time to build. The one exception of course is the #1 most trusted metric and that’s Google Analytics. Hats off to everyone involved in media metrics for making Australia world class in terms of how we measure media consumption.
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