Ogury is a global adtech company that delivers Personified Advertising solutions grounded in privacy to brands, agencies and publishers by focusing on targeting personas, not people.

Ogury aimed to get insights/deepest knowledge of their clients media quality strategy against specific ad placements across platforms and formats. Additionally, in hands with IAS, Ogury is dedicated drive better results for their clients across their KPIs: 

• Viewability
• Brand Protection 
• Invalid Traffic (IVT)

Founded in 2014, Ogury is now one of the world leaders in digital advertising. By focusing on respecting user data from the outset, it has anticipated market developments and enjoyed dazzling growth.

Download the case study today to better understand the relationship between performance, context and Quality Attention^TM

The post Unlocking the impact of quality inventory with IAS & Ogury appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

IAS is integrating with Amazon Publisher Services (APS) as the first verification provider on APS’s Connections Marketplace — a services marketplace where publishers can easily activate technology solutions with little or no new development work, saving them time and creating new revenue opportunities.

Through this global integration, publishers can now seamlessly access IAS’s Publisher Optimization solution within the APS Connections Marketplace. This integration gives publishers the ability to:

– Increase yield and maximise inventory with greater transparency

– Eliminate impression waste with automation to meet advertisers’ quality standards

– Improve efficiency and yield by delivering advertisers’ KPIs for brand safety, ad fraud, viewability, and contextual relevance

Optimise ad delivery down to the placement level for both direct and programmatic deals. Download the one sheet to get started today.

The post Industry-leading media quality on Amazon Publisher Services Connections Marketplace appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

It is understandable that people are eager to move on from the year no one expected, although that doesn’t mean the challenges and the progress made during 2020 should be shelved. As illustrated by recent Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) data — which discovered a 5% growth in ad spend in 2020 — the digital advertising industry learned valuable lessons around flexibility and resilience. 

While publishers are well aware of the disruption to ad budgets and consumer behaviour in 2020, it’s important that we delve into the impact of media quality to identify the specific trends that are likely to keep impacting the digital ecosystem in the coming months. 

To maximise yield in 2021 and beyond, it’s vital that we understand the recent changes in brand risk, ad fraud and viewability and what this means for ongoing monetisation strategy; and more specifically, how publishers can continue to maximise yield.

Covid-19 wasn’t the only increased risk

Aside from tightened advertising purse strings, a big driver for increased strain on publisher income was greater concern around online brand safety, as indicated by IAS’s latest Media Quality Report.

Specifically, the research findings discovered that risk for UK publisher direct inventory climbed across environments and categories in H2 2020, in line with trends on programmatic media quality, too. Desktop web display reached 4.8% while desktop video and mobile display risk also grew, up 0.7 and 1.3 percentage points year-over-year respectively. Total numbers of risky ad impressions that fall under the umbrella of violent, adult and hate speech content also experienced sizeable increases; with six in ten high-risk UK impressions related to content associated with illegal drugs, violence, and alcohol across both programmatic and publisher direct purchases.

It’s important to recognise that the transformation in digital is not just resulting from pandemic-related disruption. From the buy side, recognition of heightened risk is set to drive even closer media scrutiny. For sellers, securing revenue will therefore rely on efficient content assessment, based on both safety and suitability. In particular, the publishers able to offer detailed classification that gives buyers the capacity to evaluate ad placements in line with their specific offerings, views, and values will see the richest long-term rewards.

In 2021, we are seeing industry growth through boosted media spend. Advertisers have increased in confidence in digital campaigns since the pandemic through strength in ecommerce and ad spend migrated from alternative environments. Precise brand safety and brand suitability tools have moved advertisers away from keyword-only approaches, ensuring each brand’s custom metrics are aligned with their values, unlocking maximum publisher inventory. 

Technology scores against ad fraud

Where the money flows, fraudsters tend to follow; and digital’s substantial share of ad investment makes it a prime target. IAS analysis, however, highlights the major difference robust defences can make in fending off the fraudsters. Although ad spend remained high — reaching £16.47 billion during calendar year 2020 — rates for publisher direct inventory optimised against fraud improved; with the UK average coming in at 0.5%, below H2 2019 levels of 0.6%.

These results highlight that the use of sophisticated technology is playing a vital role in minimising ad fraud, reducing both publisher direct desktop display and mobile web video by 0.1 percentage points each and lowering mobile web display fraud rates by 0.3 percentage points year-over-year. Yet the need for vigilance remains. The only area to see a rise in ad fraud includes desktop video, which is attracting more interest with fraudsters due to the increasing audience engagement that’s fuelling escalated spend. Additionally, it’s worth noting that, despite welcome declines in non-optimised fraud, rates were still 11 times higher than well-protected inventory, hitting 8.6% globally.

Sights must stay set on boosting viewability

Online content consumption increased exponentially, doubling in the past year alone. Overall, the UK maintained its edge in global viewability rankings. In fact, the star performer was mobile-app display’s 4.7 percentage point increase in H2 2020, which was likely driven by  broader adoption of the IAB Measurement Software Development Kit (OM SDK). 

Amid soaring appetite for digital entertainment and information, time-in-view also saw sustained growth. Additional standouts included growth in publisher direct desktop display time-in-view to 20.9 seconds, with mobile web display close behind at 16.09 seconds; representing annual increases of 0.49 seconds and 0.69 seconds, respectively. 

Looking ahead, the mission to ensure that ads can be seen by relevant audiences in safe and suitable environments must remain a top priority for the entire advertising ecosystem. Understanding high points of viewability and reinforcing efforts to continually improve levels across formats will place media owners in a stronger position to accurately value their inventory and build firmer, more mutually beneficial ties with advertisers.

But maximising return on investment for advertisers and publishers in digital ad is an industry-wide team effort. In an age of programmatic buying and advertisers seeking efficient buys, smartly packaged premium inventory means that publishers can attract the highest-bidding advertisers. By accurately categorising content, publishers can package their content to best align with an advertiser’s specific brand safety and suitability requirements.

Tempting as it might be to consign 2020 to the history books, there are valuable lessons to take away. Over the past year, significant turmoil has transformed the digital media landscape, changing audience habits and transforming the way advertisers allocate their budgets and perceive online media. By utilising insights about the past and current state of media quality, publishers are able to not only ensure higher gains, but also ensure future-proof monetisation models for enduring success in the post-pandemic world.

The post Harnessing 2020’s media quality lessons for greater publisher gains appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

This article was written by Paul Nasse, Managing Director, Northern Europe, IAS. It was originally published in What’s New in Publishing.

“It’s been a year like no other.” I’m sure you’ve likely heard that statement every week this year since March. The statement also applies to the advertising industry. Specifically, publishers have been impacted as many brands have spent part of the year reducing ad spend to weather a global pandemic.

However, alongside its challenges, there are strong reasons for growth. The rise in digital content consumption, growth in Connected TV (CTV) usage, further innovation for programmatic advertising and a shift towards brand suitability, are all welcome and positive signs for the digital advertising industry.

Why context

In light of this, there has been much discussion about context, brand suitability and the overzealous blocking of ads by advertisers looking to protect their brand reputation online by avoiding content they deem inappropriate.

The context in which an ad shows up, that is, the relevance of an ad in relation to the content of a page in which it is advertised, has most recently hit the advertising scene due to its power in effective audience targeting. Targeting a user based on the type of content they are consuming on the page can prove effective. Not to mention, it provides a viable alternative for cookieless audience targeting.

Context matters for publishers, too

But why should publishers care? In the end, a publisher’s role is to monetize their content and maximize their yield by selling inventory. Right? Yes, but it’s also in their interest to sell the best inventory. In an age of programmatic buys and advertisers seeking to maximize ROI, premium inventory – or cleverly packaged inventory that means an advertiser can reach their target audience – can attract the highest-bidding advertisers.

What do consumers say about context?

In November, Integral Ad Science (IAS) published research that highlighted the importance of context and sentiment in digital ads. The Power of Context research discovered that:

• The overwhelming majority (81%) of consumers prefer to see ads that match the content that they are viewing.
• Seven out of ten (70%) consumers state that they are more likely to remember an ad when it appears next to contextually relevant content online.
• 70% also said that the surrounding content on a page impacts their perception of an online ad and its brand.
• To emphasise, roughly two-thirds (65%) of British consumers have a more favourable opinion of brands that serve them contextually relevant ads.

What do consumers say about sentiment?

The contextual research also explored how sentiment – whether the tone of content is negative, neutral or positive – influences consumers and their perception of a brand.

Research discovered that almost three-quarters of UK consumers (73%) feel that the sentiment of an article impacts their perception of a brand that has advertised alongside it.

When presented with examples, consumers were more receptive to content with positive and neutral sentiment. When an ad appeared next to a positive headline, consumer receptivity increased by up to 39% and favourability by up to 19% when compared to the negative headline.

Industry-wide team effort

Innovation in advertising technology impacts publishers as much as it impacts advertisers. Advertisers will always need to protect their brand message and reputation online. So, publishers will need to work closely with their buy side partners to understand their concerns and unique tolerance for risk.

Contextual relevance in digital advertising is an industry-wide team effort. It seems obvious, but buyers and sellers need to communicate clearly. The advertiser has their objective in mind – to create maximum impact from ad placements – and to achieve this, they use a number of platforms and technologies.

Similarly, publishers want to attract the best advertisers by highlighting the unique offerings of their inventory and content. Yet, on occasions, the strategies of either party is unknown to the other, thereby missing a valuable opportunity for advertisers and publishers to suit each other’s objectives.

IAS is working closely with publishers to intelligently and more precisely categorise their inventory through the use of contextual technology. Publishers can package their content to best align with an advertiser’s specific brand safety and suitability requirements.

Contextual revolution 

Contextual relevance is a revolution happening for both advertisers and publishers. It’s one that is improving monetisation of inventory for publishers and helping them drive better results for brands.

Offering premium inventory that is contextually relevant allows publishers to generate a greater return. With real-time content suitability matching, publishers are able to increase the price of their existing inventory, effectively manage special customer projects, and make the most of under-utilised content such as blogs and user generated content.

Collaboration here is key. The simultaneous collaboration between brands, publishers, and verification partners creates an effortless online experience and maximises returns for publishers.

The post A contextual revolution for publishers appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

In 2020, technology has become a global lifeline for us all. From remote working, and seemingly endless Zoom meetings, it has helped people stay connected whilst they remain apart. At IAS, we saw that as the world changed, so did the digital advertising landscape, and as a result, online consumer perceptions and priorities are significally shifting.

Whilst 2020 has ushered in new changes, at Integral Ad Science we have continued to innovate. Our innovation is driven by the people behind our technology, and we want you to meet the Faces Behind The Tech.

Faces Behind The Tech

Meet the experts at IAS via our series of short videos where you will discover our key innovation and new products. From complex terms through to the latest acronyms, our experts clarify how IAS technology helps the digital advertising industry ecosystem create the best environment for a more digitised future.

CTV & OTT Explained, Glenn Perera

As consumers spend more time at home, they’re spending more time watching Connected TV. It’s a hot topic and in this video we explain how ad verification can help measure your success on emerging video devices.

Trust in programmatic, Akshay Bhattacharjee

Today, the majority of digital advertising is bought and sold via programmatic methods. Trust in the quality and performance of programmatic has become paramount. Learn how to ensure confidence.

Publisher Optimisation, Justine Fournie

Discover how since 2015, IAS has helped publishers to further monetise their inventory, while at the same time provide improved viewability and brand suitability for their advertisers.

YouTube Measurement, Paul Astbury

Over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Learn how you can place your video ads in the most brand suitable environment within the vast quantity of YouTube content

Context Control, Jan Phillip Hinrichs

To reach and engage your customers, the environment where an ad is placed is critical. Discover how our Context Control solution gives brands and publishers control over where ad messages appear.

If you want to discover more on how IAS is shaping the future of digital ad verification, then check out our Toolkits for more information: Social, Publisher, CTV, Programmatic, Context Control.

The post Faces Behind The Tech appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

This article on how to limit keyword blocking and manage your brand safety during the current pandemic was written by Paul Nasse, Northern Europe Managing Director, IAS and was originally published on What’s New In Publishing

We’ve been having this conversation for years now – but thanks to a certain global pandemic, age-old digital advertising questions are rising up to the surface of even mainstream news. Most consumers know that advertising plays a major role in supporting publishing – but the inner workings of the industry are coming to light. Advertisers are understandably worried about what coverage of the pandemic does for their adjacent content, while publishers are concerned about conflicting needs from their audiences and advertisers.

So what needs to happen to align the industry on brand safety tactics? Here, I highlight three opportunities to move the conversation forward.

It’s time to communicate

Now more than ever is a time where publishers need to be having a direct dialogue with their agencies and advertisers to understand what their brand’s suitability goals are. It’s paramount that advertisers nail this down, define their goals, and outline what their concerns might be. This is an opportunity to ensure that marketers understand what publisher environments entail, the purpose of their content, and how the combination of both content and audience, that an individual publisher provides, can actually serve to support a brand’s objectives.

Educate advertisers on their role

Education is key right now. We’re in a climate of misunderstanding between the sorts of strategies that brands and agencies are using, the types of technologies they’re applying, how they’re applying them – and, how that aligns with the content environment they’re trying to target. Sometimes, these things don’t match. However, it can be solved with some basic education that, to date, has been lacking.

Advertisers are beginning to understand the implications of taking broad brand safety strokes, such as blanket keyword blocking, in the name of brand safety. By reviewing keywords lists frequently and prioritising suitability tactics, driven by contextual targeting, we will move to a more supportive ecosystem that benefits all.

Tech that ticks the right boxes

Verification technology is a really powerful tool and has come a long way in the last decade. Marketers can now use brand suitability tech to its full potential without sacrificing the scale of their advertising efforts or leaving publishers out in the cold. In truth, the importance of advertising to actually fund independent journalism has never been more clear.

The shift toward contextual intelligence technology, specifically, paired with increasingly sophisticated machine learning models provides marketers with greater flexibility. This allows for more nuanced, nimble approaches to address brand suitability. Contextual targeting works by taking a deeper look at the content on a given page and assessing its suitability based on the topics covered, whether the tone is negative or positive, and which emotions are conveyed. Evolving verification technologies help marketers protect their brands from unsuitable content. They also grant them the flexibility to reach consumers in the right places without limiting scale and negatively impacting publishers.

And finally…

So, back to my original question – what needs to happen to align the industry on brand safety tactics?

In reality, there is no one size fits all solution, but instead a combination of three tactics – communication, education, and sophisticated technology. The only way to effectively make use of technological advancements is for publishers and advertisers to bridge the gap and collaborate, and for the industry as a whole to continually check itself and ask, ‘what can we be doing better?’. Together, as an industry, we can accomplish change and move the conversation forward.

For more guidance and best practices around brand safety and brand suitability during pandemic download our guide here

The post So, what’s going on with keyword blocking in digital advertising? appeared first on Integral Ad Science.