DoubleVerify’s 2021 Global Insights Report analyzed more than a trillion impressions, delivered in 80 markets, across 2,100+ brands. Using this data, we explore media quality and performance trends worldwide to help better inform your media strategies.
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1
#
CTV emerges as the leading driver of verified video ad impressions in the US
30
%
Decrease in Global Fraud/SIVT Violation Rate
70
Avg Video Viewability Rate
104
Increase in Mobile Web Video Impression Volume
4
Decrease in Brand Suitability Violation Rate YoY
66
Avg Display Viewability Rate
Brand Suitability
Fraud/ SIVT
Performance
Viewability
EXPLORE BY TOPIC
Quality plays a major role in how you evaluate the success of your digital media campaigns. Discover the current state of fraud, brand safety and suitability, viewability and performance across all digital platforms.
APAC
EMEA
North America
LATAM
EXPLORE BY Region
Adoption of quality measurement varies from region to region. Discover the state of fraud, brand safety and suitability and viewability in your specific market.
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KEY FINDINGS
Brand Suitability Violation Rates Decline Globally
For the first time in several years, post-bid brand suitability violation rates decreased. Globally, the violation rate fell from by an aggregate 4% year-over-year. This decline is likely due in part to continued adoption of pre-bid brand safety solutions, which enable advertisers to avoid unsuitable content before it is bid on. As advertisers become knowledgeable about pre-bid solutions, post-bid brand suitability violations will continue to decline.
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decrease
in global brand suitability violations year-over-year
By looking at the share of brand suitability violations by type of violation, we can understand which tools advertisers are using, and which tools they are relying upon less frequently. Keyword blocking usage, which had been a staple in many brand’s toolkits, is down. Year-over-year, keyword violations have decreased from 13% to 10% of brand safety violations. Language list violations and mobile app-specific violations have also decreased in share.
The Right Tools for Each Situation
Brands Adopt a More Nuanced Approach to Brand Safety and Suitability
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60
of DV’s top 75 clients, use page exceptions
20% of total clients, and 60% of DV’s top 75 clients, use page exceptions to allow their ads to override category settings and run on select home pages or sections, while still avoiding sensitive articles.
13%
7%
76%
64%
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2020
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
2021
Keyword vs. inappropriate content share of brand suitability violations
Inappropriate Category % of Violations
Keyword % of Violations
6.2%
6.7%
7.6%
7.3%
2017-2018
2020-2021
2018-2019
2019-2020
BRAND SUITABILITY VIOLATION RATE
Decrease in YoY Violation Rate
REGIONAL SCORECARD
How does your region compare with others when it comes to brand suitability? Hover over the map to find out.
Not only does North America have the lowest brand suitability violation rate, the region is continuing to improve with a 6% year-over-year decrease.
LATAM has the second highest brand suitability violation rate, but with a decrease of 26% year-over-year, the region is on the right track.
EMEA has the highest brand suitability violation rate, hovering just below 10%. The region saw just a 1% year-over-year decrease, which was the lowest change globally.
APAC has the second lowest rates of brand suitability violations, and they experienced a 25% decrease in violations year-over-year.
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BRAND SUITABILITY
EXPLORE FRAUD/SIVT
FRAUD/SIVT
Global Fraud Rates Down by 30%, But Volume Remains Steady
Fraud/SIVT Rates by Device and Format
Fraud rates by device are down across the board, led by decreases in desktop and mobile web. That said, certain pockets did see an increase. One of those was mobile app video, with a rise of nearly 50% YoY.
50
increase in fraud on mobile app video year-over-year
20% of total clients, and 60% of DV’s top 75 clients, use page exceptions to allow their ads to override category settings and run on select home pages or sections, while still avoiding sensitive topics elsewhere on that publisher.
From January to May 2021, we’ve already seen a 12% decline compared with the full year of 2020.
Fraud/SIVT violation rates decreased by 30% year-over-year, but at 1.5%, North America is above the global benchmark.
Fraud/SIVT violation rates decreased by 29% year-over-year, and now LATAM has the second lowest fraud/SIVT violation rate of just 1.1%.
Although EMEA has the highest rate of fraud/ SIVT violations, rates decreased 19% year-over-year.
APAC’s fraud/SIVT violation rates saw the smallest drop year-over-year, but the region also has the lowest overall fraud/SIVT violation rate, clocking in at under 1%.
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EXPLORE VIEWABILITY
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How prevalent is fraud in your region? Click the map to find out.
Fraudsters are not scaling at the same rate as the legitimate marketplace. One reason for this is the increased adoption of pre-bid avoidance solutions and platform certifications that help identify and prevent fraud and sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) before it becomes an issue for advertisers.
decrease in fraud rates globally, year-over-year
MOBILE APP VIDEO FRAUD Year-over-year
1.1%
1.7%
+~49%
VIEWABILITY
Viewability Rates Rise, Reaching 70% Across Video
REGIONAL REPORT CARD
In North America, the region with the highest impression volume, improvement has slowed down. After 8% growth last year, the region experienced a 5% increase on display and 4% increase on video placements this year. Viewability, though, is trending in the right direction and solidly higher than just a few years ago.
LATAM’s display viewability is up 9% year-over-year, making it the only region to hit the 70% threshold for display. LATAM’s video viewable rate also increased significantly —12% year-over-year. In fact, all device types in this region now exceed 75% video viewability.
Display viewable rates increased 7% year-over-year, continuing a steady climb. Although video viewability decreased 3% year-over-year, EMEA is still well above the IAB threshold for viewability.
Although mobile web drove a 4% increase in display viewability year-over-year, APAC still trails other regions. APAC also saw a marked improvement of 12% across video viewability thanks to mobile app growth.
EXPLORE PERFORMANCE
Click the map to see how viewability plays out in your region.
Viewability continues to improve across all regions and across almost all devices. Generally, video placements are slightly more viewable than display placements. In fact, for the first time this year, overall video viewability reached 70% — just enough to meet the IAB’s recommended target threshold for viewability. All other formats and channels saw slight upticks, with the exception of mobile app display, which saw a 4% decrease, but which still has viewable rates still well above 70%. Mobile app, however, still has the highest viewability rate for both display (72%) and video (77%).
+49%
66.4%
+5% YoY
70.0%
+4% YoY
Desktop
Mobile App
63.3%
Mobile Web
72.0%
66.6%
+8% YoY
-4% YoY
Overall 2020-2021 benchmark
Display Viewable rates
Video
DISPLAY VIEWABLE RATES
VIDEO Viewable rates
70.2%
77.0%
67.7%
+1% YoY
PERFORMANCE
BEYOND VIEWABILITY: ATTENTION METRICS DRIVE OUTCOMES
One of the 50+ data points DV Authentic Attention™ looks at for display ads is the length of time an ad is viewed. On video impressions, the equivalent measure is video completion and audible rates by quartile. The following analyses outline key trends we’re seeing across these two data points
Key video exposure: How long are video ads seen & heard?
Completion rates across devices (ex. CTV) are fairly consistent, with similar drop-off between quartiles occurring across desktop, mobile app and mobile web. Overall, desktop outperforms mobile devices with a 71% completion rate versus 66% for mobile app and 60% for mobile web
Not only does North America have the lowest brand suitability violation rate, the region is continuing to improve. North America saw a 6% year-over-year decrease in violations, which is above the global benchmark.
EMEA has the highest brand suitability violation rate, with violations hovering just below 10%. And the region saw just a 1% year-over-year decrease, which is below the global benchmark.
EXPLORE REGIONAL BENCHMARKS
Hover over the map to see how well your region performed compared with others.
From 2020 to 2021, average time-in-view increased across devices. Last year, mobile app was bottom of the pack when it came to time-in-view, but now, mobile app and mobile web are almost at parity.
Key Display Exposure Metric: How Long Are Display Ads Viewed?
Display: Time in View With Percent change Year-Over-Year
18.7s
+14%
14.3s
+20%
14.9s
+9%
2
3
Quartile
Video Completion vs. Audible Rates by Quartile
Quartile Completion Rate
Quartile Audible Rate
81%
72%
66%
60%
10%
9%
48%
46%
44%
80%
74%
70%
18%
15%
14%
86%
71%
Audibility, which is a challenging threshold to meet, changes this story. Fewer than 15% of all video ads are audible and in-view on completion (AVOC). But mobile app significantly outperforms other environments on AVOC because of the substantially higher audible rate. Audibility rates at the 4th quartile for desktop and mobile web are 14% and 9%, respectively. But mobile app boasts a 44% 4th quartile audible rate — indicating the higher presence of audio-on experience for consumers of video ads within mobile apps.
REGIONAL BENCHMARKS
Completion rates across devices (ex. CTV) are fairly consistent, with similar drop-off between quartiles occurring across desktop, mobile app and mobile web. Overall, desktop outperforms mobile devices with a 71% completion rate versus 66% for mobile app and 60% for mobile web. Audibility, which is a challenging threshold to meet, changes this story. Fewer than 15% of all video ads are audible and in-view on completion (AVOC). But mobile app significantly outperforms other environments on AVOC because of the substantially higher audible rate. Audibility rates at the 4th quartile for desktop and mobile web are 14% and 9%, respectively. But mobile app boasts a 44% 4th quartile audible rate — indicating the higher presence of audio-on experience for consumers of video ads within mobile apps.
EXPLORE EMEA
by Region and Country (2021 rates and YoY percent change)
The Asia Pacific region covers 16 countries, the top 11 of which are included in our market-level benchmarks below. Overall, APAC quality improved over the last year. Viewability is up across display and video, while post-bid fraud/SIVT and brand suitability violation rates dropped.
AUTHENTIC RATE
Australia Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan Malaysia New Zealand Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam TOTAL
65% 51%* 65% 64% 49% 67% 58%* 67% 63% 66% 65% 62%
U U D D D U U U U U
3% –– 8% 5% 6% 6% –– 5% 10% 2% 27% 4%
78% 36%* 83% 74% 82% 84% 72%* 59% 73% 78% 62% 74%
D U U U D D U U D U
1% –– 50% 2% 94% 4% –– 5% 6% 58% 18% 12%
1.1% 2.0%* 0.5% 0.5% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5%* 0.5% 1.9% 0.3% 0.3% 0.8%
D D D D U D U D D D
15% –– 19% 60% 49% 52% –– 14% 46% 57% 4% 5%
8.0% 11.6%* 8.8% 4.1% 10.1% 11.0% 10.2%* 8.8% 9.8% 6.8% 6.5% 8.5%
D U D U D D D D D D
46% –– 18% 33% 22% 61% –– 43% 21% 36% 16% 25%
Display Viewable
Video Viewable
Fraud/SIVT
1- Authentic Impressions are those that are collectively fraud-free, viewable, brand-safe and in-geo
Quality Metrics
DISPLAY
VIDEO
59%
U
8%
68%
In brand suitability violation rate
25
DECREASE
In fraud/SIVT violation rate
5
In video viewable rate
INCREASE
12
*Insufficient YoY data available 1- Authentic Ads are those that are collectively fraud-free, viewable, brand-safe and in-geo
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EXPLORE LATAM
The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region covers 43 countries, 14 of which are benchmarked at the market-level by DV below. Overall, EMEA improved across display viewability and saw a lower post-bid fraud/SIVT violation rate year-over-year. Video viewability, however, decreased, and brand suitability violation rates stayed relatively stable — both of which make EMEA an outlier in a year where every other region realized improvements.
France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Netherlands Poland Russia South Africa Spain Switzerland Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom TOTAL
57% 56% 61%* 71%* 51% 55%* 52%* 69% 47% 56% 61%* 58% 65% 69% 64%
U U – D – – U D D U U U U
3% 14% –– –– 3% –– –– 29% 13% 2% –– 4% 38% 9% 7%
78% 61% 77%* 66%* 84% 73%* 77%* 91% 67% 80% 74%* 75% 63% 66% 75%
U D U U U D D D D D
11% 8% –– –– 4% –– –– 11% 14% 1% –– 14% 18% 10% 3%
2.0% 1.2% 0.4%* 1.4%* 0.5% 1.2%* 0.7%* 0.9% 0.9% 0.7% 1.2% * 0.4% 4.9% 1.9% 1.6%
D D D D U U D U D D
39% 24% –– –– 30% –– –– 29% 23% 3% –– 5% 7% 17% 19%
14.7% 11.3% 9.6%* 7.8%* 9.6% 14.1%* 15.9%* 5.9% 8.8% 12.1% 18.5%* 25.1% 19.1% 8.1% 9.8%
U U D D D U U U D D
29% 8% –– –– 15% –– –– 47% 50% 16% –– 154% 154% 10% 1%
69%
D
1%
Of video impressions serve on mobile app
19
/
EXPLORE NORTH AMERICA
Latin America (LATAM) covers 12 countries, and DV’s market-level benchmarks include Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Overall, LATAM countries improved across display and video viewability and saw lower post-bid fraud/SIVT and brand suitability violation rates. With the exception of Colombia’s video viewable rate, which decreased by 28%, these changes were consistent across the region.
Argentina Brazil Colombia Mexico TOTAL
77% 68% 62% 73% 70%
U U U U U
2% 7% 35% 10% 9%
82% 81% 59% 72% 78%
U U D U U
13% 11% 28% 14% 12%
1.0% 1.0% 1.3% 1.3% 1.1%
D D D D D
21% 31% 43% 19% 29%
3.1% 9.2% 12.1% 9.1% 9.2%
54% 20% 57% 26% 26%
63%
5%
65%
6%
26
101
Video viewable rate than the blobal benchmark
HIGHER
11
Overall, Canada and the United States both improved across display and video viewability, and they both saw lower post-bid fraud/SIVT and brand suitability violation rates year-over-year. Check out the country-by-country benchmarks below.
Canada United States TOTAL
59% 67% 67%
U U U
6% 5% 5%
74% 68% 69%
4% 4% 4%
1.2% 1.5% 1.5%
D D D
38% 29% 30%
9.4% 6.8% 6.9%
26% 5% 6%
6
Highest mobile app display viewable rate globally
75
EXPLORE APAC
