The other headline

Almost as soon as an industry consortium released viewability standards for digital ads last year, advertisers and agencies began clamoring for something better.

Overall, marketers are not satisfied and they're becoming increasingly vocal about it. A number of marketers and agencies are implementing their own tougher viewability standards in RFPs.

Just last month, Kraft Foods' Julie Fleischer wrote an impassioned piece in Ad Age stating "The digital publishing industry needs to get its act together. It will only be a viable alternative to the legacy media channels if it proves that it can deliver results that justify shifting investment."

Now imagine Ms. Fleischer had a new ad metric that measures effective ad viewing time and engagement and charges only for ads that go beyond the viewable impression standard and deliver 100% viewable ads 100% of the time.

Moreover, imagine this metric would work seamlessly on programmatic on a CPA basis, regarding an "action" as a 20-second slot of effective digital brand engagement. Would that make digital a viable alternative to the legacy media channels?

We know people love standards. They provide a sense of security and order amid chaos, but although safe, standards are the antithesis of innovation.

The bottom line

The industry will not change overnight. But we have the tools to create and deploy an improved metric that will better serve the needs of both publishers and marketers.