Google Inc recently set out to see just how many video ads are actually being viewable, and it discovered that nearly half of all video ads are never seen.

Viewability has become a key issue in marketing these days thanks to the countless analytics tools that measure ad impressions and reach. Marketers have a clearer picture than ever before of how many people actually see their content, and no one wants to be paying for ads that no one can see. Google referred to viewable impressions as “a new currency in video advertising” and admitted that they are “something that’s top of mind for advertisers and publishers.”

“Similar to what’s happening in display advertising, there’s a shift underway from served to viewable impressions for video ads,” Google said in a report. “By transacting only on videos that are viewable, advertisers can ensure that their ads are seen, and as a result, they can enhance their return on investment (ROI). ”

Invisible ads

Google used its Active View measurement technology to analyze the video ads that are displayed through Google, DoubleClick, and YouTube. The company wanted to determine how many video ads qualified as viewable under the standards of the Media Rating Council and IAB, which say that at least 50 percent of an ad’s pixels must be visible for at least two consecutive seconds.

They discovered that the average viewability of video ads across the web, not including YouTube, is only 54 percent. Google found that 91 percent of YouTube ads are viewable, but for a platform that consists solely of video content, the number of non-viewable ads – nearly 1 in 10 – is surprisingly high.

Google points out that most of the non-viewable video ads are not seen because they were opened in a background tab or were never visible on the screen at all. The rest were either scrolled offscreen or closed in under two seconds.

The device used to view the ads makes a difference in whether they are actually seen or not, mobile devices are far more likely to see them than desktop browsers. Google also notes that the size of the video player is important, as small videos are less likely to be seen than large videos.

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