A BUSINESS CASE STUDY FOR PUBLISHERS Selling 100% viewable impressions
The following fictionalized scenario introduces the challenge of selling 100% viewable impressions and provides expert advice from the Washington Post, Forbes and DoubleClick on how to address it. The scenario walks through how a sales director at the fictional publisher, The Hourly Report, should negotiate the sale of viewable display impressions with the fictional advertiser, Eh-Okay. The case study uses Active View by Google along with two fictional viewability measurement technologies, Ad Chemist and Bridge, to illustrate the fact that there s more than one way for advertisers and publishers to measure viewability. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 2 of 18
It s good to be back... Paulie is feeling refreshed and energized entering her office bright and early on a Monday morning. She works as a sales director at The Hourly Report, which is a leading content generator and trusted news source for the digital age. Paulie s just spent 2 weeks of vacation laying on the beach in Puerto Rico, sipping margaritas out of glasses with tiny umbrellas and learning about what an all inclusive resort really means. During Paulie s time away from the office her team has covered her workload and kept their eyes and ears open for any RFPs that included viewability requirements. RFPs with viewability requirements are issued by buyers that want their display ads to be measured by a stricter standard than served impressions. Instead, they want viewable display impressions, which the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) defines as impressions with a minimum of 50 percent of pixels in view for a minimum of 1 second. Paulie is well aware of the tremendous challenge that viewability is proving to be from her conversations with industry peers and her friendly DoubleClick rep. In preparation for this, The Hourly Report has been using two measurement technologies, Active View by Google and Bridge, that assess viewability averages of between 67% - 72% for The Hourly Report inventory. However, Paulie s team has not yet executed an RFP that includes viewability requirements and only has a basic idea of where to start. After grabbing her morning coffee and sitting down at her desk, an email pops up in Paulie s inbox with the subject line: RFP Request - 100% Viewable Impressions. Her heart beats faster as she rolls her mouse pointer over the subject line and clicks to expand. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 3 of 18
Here s what the email reads: SUBJECT LINE: RFP Request - 100% Viewable Impressions FROM: billyb@buyer.com TO: pauliep@thehourlyreport.com October 1, 2015 Hi Paulie Publisher, I hope you had a great time in Puerto Rico! I have an exciting campaign for The Hourly Report from a Canadian retail advertiser Eh-Okay. They have a budget of $500,000 (USD) to spend over a 30-day period. The advertiser loves your brand and they are targeting your core audience: men between the ages of 18-30. One more thing - Eh-Okay are looking to only pay for impressions that are viewable. This campaign is not performance focussed but focussed on driving branding goals. Other information to note: Key KPI: 17M viewed display ad impressions Campaign spend eligible across all IAB standard display ad sizes The buyer is measuring based on Ad Chemist s technology Buyer defines a viewable display ad impression in accordance with the IAB/MRC (an impression is viewable if it is 50% in view for 1 second) Eh-Okay wants to move fast and have many keen publishers that are onboard. Please let me know if you want in. Best, Billy Buyer viewability.withgoogle.com Page 4 of 18
Preparation meets opportunity Executives at The Hourly Report have anticipated that buyers will significantly change how they allocate media budgets based on where they can secure viewable impressions. To get in front of this expected change, The Hourly Report launched a new web layout in mid-2014. In addition to the redesign of the site, management coordinated a series of trainings to arm Paulie and the rest of the salesforce with negotiating tactics to handle the inevitable demand for in-view ad placements. Management also requested to be notified of any deals with viewability requirements so that they could assist in influencing the outcome. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 5 of 18
The Hourly Report has ensured that Paulie has access to the following background information* to help her sell their inventory based on viewability: Available served impressions: The Hourly Report has 35,500,000 served impressions available over the 30 days the advertiser wants Average CPM: The average CPM of The Hourly Report s direct sold inventory is $15 Viewability metrics by measurement technology: The viewability technology Eh-Okay is using, Ad Chemist, assesses the viewability rate of The Hourly Report s inventory at 48% with 100% measurability An alternative viewability technology, Active View by Google, assesses the viewability rate of The Hourly Report s inventory at 72% with 100% measurability Another alternative viewability technology, Bridge, assesses the viewability rate of The Hourly Report s inventory at 67% with 90% measurability * All information is hypothetical, not based on real figures and meant for illustrative purposes only. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 6 of 18
Per her sales training, Paulie notifies the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at The Hourly Report that she ll be responding to an RFP for 100% viewability. She lets the CRO know the advertiser s key requests: Max budget $500,000 USD over 30 days Target Our core audience, men ages 18-30 Key KPI 17 million viewed display ad impressions Units Any IAB standard display ad size Measurement technology Ad Chemist viewability.withgoogle.com Page 7 of 18
The CRO asks to meet with Paulie in person. She wants Paulie to come to the meeting prepared with the following: 1. Calculations about how many total impressions will need to be served to meet the advertiser s impression goals. 2. What is the CPM and effective CPM based on the advertiser s budget and desired impression goals? 3. A list of the pros and cons of the proposed RFP. 4. An analysis of whether or not the company should accept the RFP. 5. What to change in The Hourly Report s response if Ad Chemist measurability dropped from 100% to 90%? 6. What to change in The Hourly Report s response if the advertiser will accept either Active View by Google s viewability measurement at 100% measurability or Bridge s viewability measurement at 90% measurability? 7. A list of qualitative factors to consider when making the decision to accept the RFP. 8. What areas of the RFP to negotiate upfront and why? viewability.withgoogle.com Page 8 of 18
Try answering the CRO s request on your own before reading expert advice from Forbes, The Washington Post and DoubleClick. Paulie Publisher turns to her friendly DoubleClick rep, Geri, for help. Here s how Geri would answer the CRO s request. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 9 of 18
1 How many total impressions will need to be served to meet the advertiser s impression goals? The first step to answering an RFP for 100% viewability is to understand how variables such as % viewability and % measurability impact the volume of impressions that will need to be delivered for the campaign. The chart below shows how many total impressions The Hourly Report will need to serve in order to meet the advertiser s impression goals by different types of viewability options: % Viewability % Measurability % Viewable Impressions to Deliver Total Estimated Impressions to Serve Active View at 100% measurable 72% 100% 23,611,111 Active View at 90% measurable 72% 90% 26,234,568 Bridge at 100% measurable 67% 100% 25,373,134 Bridge at 90% measurable 67% 90% 28,192,371 Ad Chemist at 100% measurable 48% 100% 35,416,667 Ad Chemist at 90% measurable 48% 90% 39,351,852 viewability.withgoogle.com Page 10 of 18
What is the CPM and effective CPM based on the advertiser s budget and desired impression goals? 2 The second step to answering the RFP is to use the estimated total impressions to calculate the CPM and effective CPM based on the advertiser s budget. Viewable Impressions Total Estimated Budget Cost per thousand Effective cost per to Deliver Impressions to Serve (CPM) viewable thousand (ecpm) impressions served impressions Active View at 100% measurable 23,611,111 $500,000.00 $29.41 $21.18 Bridge at 100% measurable 25,373,134 $500,000.00 $29.41 $19.71 Active View at 90% measurable 26,234,568 $500,000.00 $29.41 $19.06 Bridge at 90% measurable 28,192,371 $500,000.00 $29.41 $17.74 Ad Chemist at 100% measurable 35,416,667 $500,000.00 $29.41 $14.12 Ad Chemist at 90% measurable 39,351,852 $500,000.00 $29.41 $12.71 Note that both of the possible Ad Chemist measurements will result in ecpms that are below the $15 average of The Hourly Report s direct sold inventory. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 11 of 18
What are the pros and cons of the proposed RFP? The pros are: Paulie can close a $500,000 deal The Hourly Report has the audience the advertiser wants 3 The cons are: If Paulie accepts Ad Chemist s viewability measurement, the resulting ecpm would be $14.12 at best. This could fall even lower if Ad Chemist can t measure 100% of The Hourly Report s impressions. Also, if Ad Chemist can t measure 100% of The Hourly Report s impressions, Paulie risks under delivery of the campaign. 4 Should the RFP be accepted? The fourth step is to decide whether or not to accept the RFP. Due to the cons stated above, Paulie should negotiate the RFP instead of accept it as is. Paulie can achieve a much higher ecpm simply by getting the advertiser to agree to a different viewability technology provider like Active View by Google. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 12 of 18
5 What should change in The Hourly Report s response if Ad Chemist measurability dropped from 100% to 90%? If Paulie does agree to use Ad Chemist s viewability measurement, she must look out for the possibility that Ad Chemist may not be able to measure 100% of The Hourly Report s inventory. If Ad Chemist can only measure 90% of The Hourly Report s inventory, Paulie may need to negotiate to deliver fewer than the requested viewable impressions. What should change in The Hourly Report s response if the advertiser will accept either Active View by Google s viewability measurement at 100% measurability, or Bridge s viewability measurement at 90% measurability? If Paulie could negotiate for Bridge viewability measurement at 90% measurability, the resulting ecpm would be a robust $17.74, which is an 18% improvement over 6 The Hourly Report s $15 average CPM for direct sold inventory. Even better, if Paulie could negotiate for Active View viewability measurement at 100% measurability, the resulting ecpm would be higher still at $21.18, which is a 41% improvement. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 13 of 18
What are the qualitative factors to consider when making the decision to accept the RFP? 7 Paulie should be careful not to base her response to the RFP on ecpm alone. There are also some qualitative factors to consider when negotiating the RFP. These include: Consider the value of selling and delivering viewable impressions. This is a strategic priority for The Hourly Report. The company anticipates that advertisers will increasingly want to buy viewable impressions and it has recently invested in a site redesign to improve viewability metrics. So, it may be a fair trade to offer greater flexibility in pricing to the first advertisers to buy viewability in return for getting the full experience of selling and delivering a viewable campaign. Consider the lifetime value of the advertiser. If this is an important advertiser to The Hourly Report s business, Paulie may be willing to accept more concessions than usual. Paulie should consider alternate sources of demand for The Hourly Report s inventory. Would another advertiser pay more for the inventory? Can The Hourly Report sell all its inventory for the month without this customer? viewability.withgoogle.com Page 14 of 18
8 What areas of the RFP to negotiate upfront and why? Paulie s negotiations with the advertiser should cover which viewability measurement technology will be used and what will be done about the impressions that the selected viewability measurement technology can t measure. This is important because, as shown in the charts above, the ecpm can vary significantly from one viewability measurement technology to another. In addition, if the viewability measurement technology can t measure some portion of The Hourly Report s inventory, there s a chance that low measurability could lower the ecpm. So, Paulie should negotiate for the viewability considerations that will maximize ecpm. viewability.withgoogle.com Page 15 of 18
Confident negotiations close the deal Paulie takes Geri s advice and negotiates to deliver viewable impressions based on Active View viewability measurement at 100% measurability. With this, Paulie secures a $21.18 ecpm for The Hourly Report and ad ops allocates 23,611,111 served impressions to the advertiser s campaign. Based on Paulie s superb negotiation, The Hourly Report still has 11,888,889 served impressions to sell other advertisers before they are sold out for the month. Now that Paulie s closed her first viewability deal, she s ready to try a proactive approach for the next one. viewability.withgoogle.com