Integral Ad Science

RESEARCH: The Attention Payoff

IAS Team — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Exploring the perception and future outlook of attention measurement and optimization in digital media

All eyes are on attention. Although it’s one of the most widely discussed topics in digital media, marketers remain divided on how to properly harness it. Attention scores, methodologies, and key performance indicators are increasingly diversified — so how can marketers best measure and optimize their campaigns for higher attention?

IAS partnered with YouGov to assess the current state, perceptions, and future outlook of attention measurement and optimization in digital media. In this study, we surveyed U.S. digital media experts from both the buy- and sell-side to reveal the most important KPIs tracked by attention users and shed light on the business results and success rates attributed to attention strategies.

Here’s what we discovered:

83% of media experts think it’s important for their company to have an attention strategy
79% of media experts report substantial improvement in revenue opportunity since implementing an attention strategy
78% of attention measurement users are prepared to evolve to optimization in the next 12 months

Download the research, The Attention Payoff, to uncover the current state of attention and understand how your brand can be measuring and optimizing it to reach superior results.

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WHITE PAPER: Quest for Quality

IAS Team — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 11:59:00 +0000

How marketers can drive superior results on the programmatic supply path

Programmatic is dominating the ad buying space. With benefits like targeting, scaling, and operational efficiencies, it’s no wonder why programmatic appeals to the marketing masses. But despite its features, programmatic ad buying is complicated. It poses significant challenges for marketers, like opaque, complex, and cost inefficient supply paths. And unfortunately, traditional supply path optimization (SPO) products leave marketers with wasted ad spend and a lack of transparency into the quality of impressions being served.

Without transparency into the cost and quality of programmatic ads, marketers are at risk of wasting valuable ad spend on low quality media that doesn’t drive results.

IAS’s latest white paper, Quest for Quality, deep dives into Quality Path Optimization (QPO) to help marketers overcome programmatic buying challenges so they can truly understand the tools they need to drive ROI and performance on the programmatic supply path.

In this white paper, you’ll learn:

Why making supply path decisions on cost alone is hurting brands
How to identify inefficiencies along the supply path while taking impression quality and transparency into account
How IAS’s Total Visibility is helping marketers across the globe improve campaign performance and ROI

Don’t compromise the quality of your impressions. Only IAS shows marketers the true financial impact of media quality on the supply path. Download the white paper, Quest for Quality, now to access these insights and more.

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How Marketers Can Detect and Avoid Made For Advertising Sites

IAS Team — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:00:57 +0000

Have you ever clicked on a link to an article with a clickbait-y headline such as “Shocking secrets of the pharaohs!” or “You won’t believe how much these actors make!” and been redirected to a page littered with ads? If so, you’ve visited a made-for-advertising (MFA) site.

MFA sites have existed since the advent of programmatic advertising and have historically been referred to as “clickbait sites” or “ad farms.” Unlike premium ad-supported sites with quality journalism, MFA sites exist solely to serve ads. MFA sites are low quality sites with a terrible user experience, which reflects poorly upon the brands that advertise on them. Research from Jounce Media and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has shown that advertising on MFA sites doesn’t drive meaningful campaign results, like conversions and brand lift, and is a waste of ad spend.

Biometric research conducted by IAS, The Ripple Effect, highlights the risk for brands advertising on low quality sites:

81% of U.S. consumers find it annoying when a brand appears next to low quality content
Of those consumers, 52% feel less favorably toward a brand that does this
62% will stop using the brand altogether if its ads appear adjacent to low quality content

Why do MFA sites exist?

Simply put, MFA sites make their publishers a lot of money. MFA publishers practice arbitrage advertising—they place ads across content recommendation platforms on a pay-per-click basis and monetize the resulting traffic by serving a ton of ads. It’s a very simple and effective model, and completely legal.

MFA site operators, for the most part, are not purchasing bot traffic. Real people are visiting these sites, so their model is not driven by invalid traffic. Many MFA sites use plagiarized or AI-generated content instead to engage with users.

How have MFA sites avoided detection?

MFA sites have flown under the radar for years because they’re highly optimized and purpose-built to perform well against traditional ad verification metrics—especially viewability. MFA sites tend to be fraud-free, brand safe, contextually relevant, and, given they stack ad placements above-the-fold, have above average viewability rates.

In an effort to avoid detection, MFA sites take unusual steps not taken by premium publishers. For example, the look-and-feel of the site can be completely different to a visitor depending on how they got to the site. If the visitor was directed to the site after clicking on a link promoted by a content recommendation platform, they’ll see the site littered with ads. However, if the user visits the site directly, they will see very few ads, and sometimes no ads on the homepage. MFA publishers do this to pass audits when partners inspect the quality of their sites.

MFA sites are not operated in silos, they are operated in large, coordinated networks. A publisher will own many MFA sites and will rotate traffic across their sites. They will also share content across these sites. Once the publisher notices a decrease in bidding activity on a given site (due to buyers putting the site on exclusion lists), they will move traffic to another site. They may even temporarily shut down the site and relaunch it again in the future.

It’s like a game of whack-a-mole.

What are the qualities and attributes of MFA sites?

The ANA, along with the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), recently published a list of characteristics associated with MFA sites:

High ad-to-content ratio
- Usually at least twice the Internet average, e.g., ad-to-content ratio of more than 30% for desktop
Rapidly auto-refreshing ad placements
- Numerous refreshing banner ads
- Autoplay video ads flood the site
- Slide shows forcing visitors to click through multiple pages to access content, with multiple ads
High percentage of paid traffic sourcing
- MFA publishers often have little-to-no organic audience and are instead highly dependent on visits sourced from clickbait ads that run on social networks, content recommendations platforms, and even on the websites of reputable publishers. Buying paid traffic is the primary cost driver of operating an MFA business. Overcoming paid traffic acquisition costs requires MFA publishers to engage in aggressive monetization practices and arbitrage
Generic content (non-editorial or templated, low-quality content)
- Often syndicated, dated and non-unique (articles regurgitated)
Usually poorly designed, templated website designs

How can IAS help?

IAS’s new MFA measurement product leverages AI to identify MFA sites. It supports the definition above, and goes beyond this list of characteristics to effectively identify MFA sites.

The IAS MFA product completed alpha testing in early October 2023, and is available now as a beta measurement offering for select customers. General availability is expected to expand to all customers in early 2024.

For more information, check out our press release and reach out to your IAS representative.

The post How Marketers Can Detect and Avoid Made For Advertising Sites appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

Analyze performance metrics alongside financial and media quality insights with Total Visibility’s Performance Dashboard

IAS Team — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 11:59:00 +0000

How to get seamless transparency into your media quality inventory

IAS has enhanced Total Visibility to include a new performance dashboard in IAS Signal, providing even greater transparency into the programmatic supply path.

As media budgets are cut, advertisers are under more scrutiny to prove how media quality investments help drive results. IAS’s Total Visibility enables advertisers to get a singular view of their programmatic campaigns’ performance that includes media quality, media cost, supply path, and now, performance metrics—all in one place. Recent IAS analysis has shown that optimizing towards Quality Impressions can result in an 11% increase in conversion rate.

With IAS’s new Performance Dashboard in IAS Signal, you can access metrics including:

Success Rate Over Time to prove the long-term value of quality media on campaign performance
Cost per Action to understand which programmatic supply paths are driving conversions efficiently
Conversion Rate to power marketing decisions based on industry-leading media quality data

Access seamless transparency between media quality and performance today. Download the one sheet to get started.

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Verify intrinsic in-game buys in Frameplay’s gaming ecosystem

IAS Team — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 11:59:00 +0000

Advertise confidently in gaming environments with IAS-accredited Invalid Traffic measurement

Your ad spend is valuable in every environment. When it comes to gaming, rest easy knowing your buys are more transparent than ever before in Frameplay’s gaming ecosystem with industry-leading Invalid Traffic (IVT) measurement from IAS.

Through this integration, marketers can verify that their valuable intrinsic in-game ad placements are seen by real gamers with precise impression counts in a fraud-free environment.

With IAS invalid traffic (IVT) measurement and impression counts in Frameplay’s gaming ecosystem, marketers get:

Global measurement for a holistic view of intrinsic in-game media buys
Trusted, third party reporting with daily reporting in the IAS Signal UI
Comprehensive coverage across formats and environments

Advertise in Frameplay’s network of premium games with confidence that your campaigns are engaging real gamers and driving results. Download the one sheet now to get started.

IAS is all-in on gaming. Learn more about what gamers want from intrinsic in-game ads here and check out IAS’s gaming capabilities on the Insider blog.

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RESEARCH: The Sound of Suitability

IAS Team — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 11:59:00 +0000

How consumers perceive and interact with brand suitable ads on digital audio platforms

Digital audio advertising is growing at the speed of sound. Marketers are investing in digital audio — in fact, ad spend in the space is expected to surpass $7.5 billion in 2024, putting it on track to be one of the fastest growing channels for media investment.

But as audio advertising grows, so will threats to your brand. And it’s critical for marketers to understand how these emerging threats to media quality impact consumers’ engagement with and perception of brands that advertise on digital audio platforms.

In our latest research, Integral Ad Science surveyed consumers to uncover how they think about brand suitability and risk for different types of digital audio content, including both music and podcasts. Plus, we explored how ad adjacency to risky content impacts brand favorability and purchase intent.

Here's a quick look at what we found:

81% of U.S. internet users listened to a digital audio platform in the last 12 months
51% of digital audio listeners say it’s important that ads are relevant to the surrounding digital audio content
25% of digital audio listeners say they would avoid purchasing from a brand that advertises near unsuitable audio content

As digital audio grows, don’t let your brand get caught in the noise. Invest in digital audio that keeps your brand safe and drives results. Download the research to find out more.

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RESEARCH: The Mind on The Stream

IAS Team — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 12:00:00 +0000

A neuro-investigation into the human brain and CTV advertising

Connected TV (CTV) has completely changed the way we watch — and monetize — TV. Consumers can watch on their own time, and marketers can choose from more granular targeting and placement methods than ever before. Despite these innovations, viewers are left unsatisfied with irrelevant, disruptive ads that negatively impact their viewing experience.

Marketers and publishers alike are still searching for best practices to drive performance while simultaneously satisfying audiences. In the quest to understand advertising on CTV, IAS and Neuro-Insight set out to identify new ways to leverage the strengths of CTV content classification — straight from the human brain. In this first-of-its-kind neurostudy, we explore how marketers can increase brand impact on CTV through tone, context, and frequency.

Surveys can only tell us so much. Brain activity tells us everything. So what kinds of CTV ads really resonate with consumers?

Here’s a quick look at what we discovered:

Unrelated ads break viewers’ neuro-state
Repeated ad viewing leads to higher connection, but lower interest
Context-matched ads are highly memorable and relatable to viewers

Use the power of science to increase brand impact and drive superior results. Download the research to learn more.

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Q&A with Cheryl Taylor, Director of Talent Development at IAS

IAS Team — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 10:35:33 +0000

Curious about the secret ingredients that make our training programs top-notch? We sit down with our training lead, Cheryl to learn about training methodologies, and her journey of helping our team and clients soar to new heights.

Tell us a bit about yourself – who you are, what you do at IAS!

Cheryl Taylor, Director of Talent Development, based in London. In addition to internal IAS talent development initiatives, I head up our client learning programs to ensure clients can refine their IAS and industry understanding, to help grow their knowledge and careers in the ad tech space.

What would you like to “perfect” in 2023?

As we continue to innovate and grow our products for our customers, I’d like to invest more in our client learning programs (both online and live) to ensure clients have, at their fingertips, access to more detailed education spanning all of IAS products. This would help clients to understand the value of using the wide variety of solutions available today, to provide them with actionable data to help drive superior results.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

If it takes too long to figure out, ask for help. Too often we can waste so much time trying to work something out, when all it needs is to ask a colleague or a friend for their perspective or skill-support. Our minds can only absorb and remember so much, so be kind to yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Where can people find you when you’re not at work?

Usually at home, which sounds pretty dull right?! However, home is my happy place: it provides me with warmth, comfort and love. I’m also fortunate to live near beautiful open countryside, so when the weather is good, I love to get out into nature, enjoy the fresh air and appreciate the simpler things in life. I grew up with fields surrounding my home, so nature for me is my tonic.

What does innovation mean to you?

Innovation should be seen as positive and it speaks to me in many ways: It’s a challenge, an inspiration, a dream, an achievement but also an opportunity for growth. Innovation is about improving and refining what we already have. The journey we experience when innovating may test our strength, our patience, and our knowledge, but on this journey, innovation creates growth and achievement which should always be celebrated. Innovation should also be seen as a constant: It should never stop.

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IAS Brings End-to-End Optimization and Measurement Solutions to Criteo

IAS Team — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 13:01:00 +0000

How marketers can maximize engagement within major retail media partners

Retail Media Networks (RMNs) have seen unparalleled growth over the course of 2023 as the amount of ad spending in the space more than triples its pre-pandemic total. In fact, Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform is one of the fastest-growing RMNs in the industry today, giving marketers a golden opportunity to maximize engagement within the digital retail space with Criteo’s more than 19,000 global partners including retail media partners.

But how can marketers ensure they’re validating real users on RMNs?

IAS has teamed up with Criteo to promote transparency and engage real consumers within Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform and DSP, Commerce Max. This first-to-market integration of IAS’s global optimization and measurement solutions will allow marketers to effectively validate the quality of their valuable inventory to thousands of connected retailers on Criteo.

With IAS pre-and post-bid measurement products for Criteo, marketers can:

Get trusted, third-party reporting for 50% of the top 25 U.S. retailers and 20 EMEA retailers, with expansion into METAP, APAC, and LATAM.
Enhance performance by identifying trends and optimizing campaigns

Drive superior results across crucial retail media partners. Download the one sheet to get started.

ACCESS ONE SHEET

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Toyota Maximizes Campaign Performance with IAS

IAS Team — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 18:21:12 +0000

IAS measurement and optimization solutions drive programmatic campaign results for Toyota

The challenge: Global automotive leader Toyota and its partners, The&Partnership and Xaxis, wanted to enhance Toyota’s programmatic performance, drive better results, and access actionable insights across their digital campaigns.

The solution: The&Partnership, Xaxis, and Toyota partnered with IAS to implement Total Visibility and custom optimization tools via IAS Context Control. Together, IAS’s measurement and optimization solutions helped boost Toyota’s KPIs, which included decreasing cost per session and cost per action, and increasing conversion rate.

The results:

29% decrease in cost per session compared to alternative targeting solution
22% decrease in cost per action compared to alternative targeting solution
1.8x increase in conversation rate compared to alternative targeting solution

Drive superior results across programmatic campaigns with IAS. Download the case study now to discover how measurement and optimization solutions can enhance your brand’s performance.

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