Ad viewability in UK at highest level in a year

The latest quarterly benchmark report fro Meetrics reveals that online ad viewability levels in the UK have risen to the highest seen in over a year, although the country still lags other European countries.

by Helen Leggatt

Between April and June, 2017, the proportion of online banner ads in the UK meeting minimum viewability guidelines increased from 47% to 51%, reports Meetrics. That figure is the highest recorded since the first quarter of 2016 when it was 54%. Ads purchased direct were found to have better viewability levels (59%) than programmatically purchased ads (52%).

However, the proportion of online banner ads meeting minimum viewability guidelines in other European countries continues to be higher:

Austria - 69%
France - 58%
Germany - 57%.

"It's certainly a step in the right direction and shows ad viewability initiatives, such as from JICWEBS and the like, are starting to impact the market," said Anant Joshi, Meetrics' commercial director UK & Ireland. However, Joshi adds that the UK "can't celebrate the fact that we're back to almost half of banner ad budgets being wasted on ads that don't have the chance to be seen".

For the first time Meetrics has included viewability figures for video ads and reveals that, overall, more than two-thirds (69%) meet the IAB and Media Ratings Council's recommendation that 50% of the video ad is in view for at least two seconds.

This, says Joshi, "is partly because viewers tend to be more engaged with video due to its greater screen size and being less surrounded by other ads".