In digital advertising, premium inventory is highly valued by advertisers and publishers alike. Advertisers are willing to spend more to reach the best audiences, and publishers earn higher CPMs by delivering them. Maximizing premium inventory benefits everyone as it improves ad performance and publisher revenue.
But what exactly makes premium inventory so premium, and how can publishers convey that level of quality to their buyers? The specific answers to those questions may vary on a case-by-case basis, but generally speaking, there are some qualities that most buyers are always looking for.
For digital ad space to be more valuable, it needs to be more viewable. Viewability is a metric that advertisers value because their ad can’t make an impact if it isn’t being seen. But what makes one inventory unit more viewable than another?
The industry standard for viewability comes from the Interactive Ad Bureau (IAB) and the Media Ratings Council (MRC). They state that for an ad to be considered viewable, at least 50% of it must be seen for a specific interval of time – one second for display ads, or two seconds for video. Some industry groups maintain even higher standards, so it’s important to know them in advance. If an ad unit consistently performs at or above that threshold, it is considered high-viewability, which boosts its appeal to potential buyers.
In addition to being visible, the impressions that an ad generates must be authentic. That’s not always a guarantee in digital advertising, where invalid traffic (IVT) has become a multi-billion dollar business. Plus, the rapid development of AI technology in recent years has made fraudster schemes even more sophisticated. AI crawler spoofing, where attackers impersonate friendly AI bots to access content while avoiding detection, is a good example of this.
There is a direct correlation between a lower fraud rate and a higher inventory value. But without effective protection, it can be hard for publishers and advertisers to keep up as new schemes emerge. Real-time solutions like DV’s Inventory Quality allow publishers to optimize their inventory along advertiser KPIs and reduce exposure to fraud and IVT.
While viewability and fraud both have clear industry-wide expectations attached to them, brand suitability is a more nuanced issue. Advertisers want to know they’re working with publishers that can deliver their ads near content that aligns with their values. That can get complicated for publishers because no two brands’ needs are exactly the same.
Better workflows and solutions are needed to maximize alignment and speed up the process of finding compatible buyers. DV’s own Brand Suitability Guide discusses the importance of this and explores how advertisers can work more closely with their publisher partners to hone brand suitability strategies and increase positive returns.
Attention is another aspect of quality that is in high demand among advertisers because it is directly tied to better campaign outcomes. That appeal makes it advantageous for media suppliers to offer attention metrics as a differentiator. DV Publisher Suite offers a number of solutions to publishers looking to exploit that advantage, including a quarterly benchmark report that offers a regularly updated snapshot of key attention metrics and trends. This data helps publishers show outperformance and quality of their inventory.
Being able to present inventory as “premium” can help pave the way to more revenue, better relationships with brands, and an improved long-term outlook for a publisher’s business. But it isn’t enough for inventory to simply have the qualities that advertisers value. Publishers must also be able to show it with clear, compelling data that establishes a track record of success. That’s exactly why companies like DV exist: to help publishers and advertisers save valuable time and resources by aligning on the data that matters most, helping both sides transact better, faster and more often.
Interested in learning more about DV Publisher Suite? Reach out today!
