When it comes to digital advertising, there is no name bigger than Google. With millions of people relying on them for online advertising it is important to keep a close eye on all their activities. That is why the announcement from the VP of product management of the Google Display Network, Brad Bender was so important. When speaking at the SMX East conference in New York he said, “I’m pleased to announce that GDN is moving to 100% viewable. We’re going to migrate all of the CPMs in the system to viewable CPMs. All advertisers will be able to see viewable metrics so they can make better decisions.”
This is a move meant to address the issue that many marketers have complained about. They would pay for a set amount of displayed ads, but would be charged for ads that were never actually seen. These ads would load on tabs that were not active or would load on a page below the ‘fold’ so people couldn’t see them. In fact, Google has said that about 56% of online display ads are never seen at all, and that is those that are actually loaded.
Google has taken steps to help protect marketers from this issue in the past. In the speech he confirmed that last year alone Google did not charge advertisers for about 70 billion ad impressions. These ad impressions occurred, but since they were not seen they did not have to be paid for. That is, however, only a fraction of the total number of ads that were not seen according to many people’s estimates.
The move by Google will improve the overall results for marketers, and will help to build advertiser confidence in their display network. It could also make people more likely to buy straight CPM ad campaigns rather than going with click focused options, which have long been the more popular choice.
Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how all of this plays out. No matter what, this is a good move by Google since it will give markers more information and a better overall experience.
This change will be rolling out over the next couple weeks to all current and new advertisers using the Google Display Network. If you use Google’s ad network, make sure you keep a close eye on the information you have available to see how it impacts your overall campaign. It stands to reason that the adjustment on Google’s end will improve the overall return on investment for most marketers.
