NEWS19 January 2017
UK — UK advertisers spent around £606m last year on ads that didn't meet the minimum viewability thresholds, according to a report from ad verification company Meetrics.
In the final quarter of 2016, just half ( 49%) of banner ads served in the UK met the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) and Media Ratings Council’s recommendation that 50% of an ad is in view for at least one second.
This is the same proportion as had been recorded in Q3 2016, which was a slight improvement on the 47% from Q2, but a steep drop from the 54% viewability level achieved in Q1.
The UK remains far behind other European countries with regard to viewability levels: Austria is at 68%, Germany 58% and France 57%.
“Despite the ongoing attention and initiatives focused on addressing viewability, things just aren’t really improving,” said Anant Joshi, Meetrics’ director of international business.
“Yes, you can argue viewability has stabilised over the last couple of quarters and is marginally up on 6 months ago but the reality is viewability levels are lower than a year ago and over half of ads served still aren’t viewable.”