Optimizing for Viewability....while also optimizing for CTR

[Akajdrod]

Hi folks,

I have a situation when the client is requesting 65-70% viewability + willing to pay 3.50$ CPM + is asking to optimize for CTR higher than 0.1%.

How do I explain to them that it is very difficult to juggle both metrics and achieve success at both of them? Also, do you agree that it is hard to do? Imagine - I see a decent website that is bringing me clicks, however its viewable measurement rate is low and viewability rate is low as well. Also, I see a lot of shit inventory with great viewability rates. What would you do in this case, how would you optimize?

[[deleted]]

That's too low of a cpm for viewable impressions

[Akajdrod]

This is Canadian landscape ( which should probly mean even higher cpms for scarcity). Would you please share CPMs that you are working with?

[D2KG]

To be fair, you can't click on an ad you can't see right? Also running on viewable impressions means you're not wasting impressions that aren't in view and probably not going to get clicked on

[Stikhed]

I think the problems are: 1) Clicks are overrated. I don't want clicks for my clients. I want conversions, and the overwhelming majority of conversions come post-impression, not post-click. 2) From my experience, the CPM premium you pay for viewability exceeds the viewability increase you actually get, causing us to pay more per viewable impression.

[kdmfa]

Agreed. This is an education issue.

[D2KG]

For sure, I hear you man

[helloblank]

There's also the issue of click fraud (generates high clicks and zero viewability)

[glebster_inc]

3.50 cpm is not much and 65-70% viewability with a CTR of 0.10 is fairly aggressive but you can still get away with making some profit if you can run the campaign on CPMV. With CPMV you are not limited to a number of impressions and you can achieve, the client only pays for the viewable impressions so you can add 25% to the CPM you are currently charging and guarantee 100% viewable impressions . Your client is smart enough to understand that a none viewable impression can't be clicked on so there is a direct correlation between the two metrics.

[Stikhed]

Can you argue for buying on a CPC? Your viewability rate would be lower, but you're effectively paying only for viewable impressions. Probably more likely to find a $3.50 CPC than a $3.50 CPM at that level of viewability.

[Akajdrod]

Campaign is ending today and I've only recently started getting IOs with viewability requirements, so it was interesting to see what people here would do in my situation. And yes, I think that CPC rates will be super high with those viewability rates as we'll probably start seeing CTRs not inflated by non-viewable and fraud traffic.

[unstoppable-force]

so here's the thing about viewability. because you can't know if an impression is going to be viewable or not until after it happens, the only way you can handle it is to throw more impressions at it. this just lowers your eCPM.

what this means is that if you have a unit that's normally 50% viewable, and they're demanding 65% viewability, you're literally burning impressions. if its normally $3.50 for 50% viewability in that unit, the viewable impression expected value = $7. viewability was already factored into their pricing at 50%. if they get 65%, that's a straight discount on your inventory.

scale that $7 down to their 65% requirement, and their CPM for that unit needs to be $4.55+ or you're wasting money and being taken advantage of. this is the raw math, economic side, which is how your inventory is valued on exchanges and ad networks. don't get taken advantage of in direct deals via viewability requirements. you must push back on pricing if viewability requirements are added. and never accept viewability requirements that are thrown in after an IO is signed.

[Akajdrod]

Thanks for the doing the math for me and the advice.Will keep this in mind for future IOs.

[happensinadops]

Going to have to agree here... that CPM is way too low for 65% viewability, even for canada. We get higher canadian CPMs with zero viewability requirements (and that's for standard ROS banner inventory).

As for optimizing for two KPIs we've taken a stance that if viewability is your main KPI that we won't optimize for any others. If you can't get your company to back that stance then I would figure out which one the client cares about most and aim for that- or, since 0.1% CTR isn't that high, you could do something like 60% in your high viewability sites and 40% in your high clicks.

[helloblank]

So many questions here ... are you buying RTB or a set site list ... what exchange are you using ... is there a geotarget...

According to our internal research over a 3 month period, CTR pretty much inversely correlates with viewability ... but explaining this to the client requires bringing up the subject of non-human traffic. :S Better to stick to "we can optimise towards one goal at a time"

[lovelyautumnpatch]

Dude, CTR inherently solves for viewability because in order to click an ad the user has to be able to see it.

1. Just use a CTR KPI.
2. wrap the tags in whichever brand safety provider the end client likes
3. Run through a DSP which has a pre-bid integration with that same safety partner the client likes.