‘Guaranteed Time Slot’ for Viewable Content Metric Creates Robust Benchmark for Content Performance for Content Marketing, Native Advertising & More
SANTA MONICA, CA – WebSpectator (www.webspectator.com) today announced that it has received accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC) on its newest product, “GTS for Viewable Content,” a new metric which measures content that has been distributed through programmatic means, verifying when it was fully in view for an aggregate total of 20 seconds or more. The product can be leveraged across a range of digital content marketing solutions, including several that are considered core native advertising units, such as:
- In-feed units
- Paid search units
- Recommendation widgets
The MRC is a nonprofit industry group that audits and accredits measurement services, and seeks to secure that audience measurement services are valid, reliable, and effective. With specific regard to the WebSpectator “GTS for Viewable Content” product, the MRC verified that it complies with the “Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research” and “MRC Viewable Impression Measurement Guidelines” published by the MRC, the “Display and Rich Media Advertising Impression Guidelines,” and “Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines” published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
As a result, “GTS for Viewable Content” is able to deliver both viewable impressions and augment that standard with a time-based gauge for content marketing performance that exceeds the minimum industry standards.
“We commend WebSpectator’s innovative approach to content measurement with the introduction of its ‘GTS for Viewable Content’ product,” said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. “The MRC has accredited several of WebSpectator’s other products in the past, and we’re pleased to see the company continuing its successful track-record in meeting rigorous standards.”
WebSpectator has developed a capability in the “GTS for Viewable Content” product to conduct measurement in a mobile web environment. While the Media Rating Council has not yet developed a mobile viewable impression guideline, and this capability was not subjected to audit, WebSpectator intends to seek accreditation for this capability at the appropriate time in the future.
“While content marketing and native have become increasingly popular techniques for reaching audiences on digital screens, measuring engagement for this type of advertising has been a challenge — until now,” said Andre Parreira, CEO of WebSpectator. “The ‘GTS for Viewable Content’ provides a new powerful benchmark for measuring the success of content-driven campaigns, whether on desktop or on the mobile web, allowing advertisers to be confident that they are securing significant time spent with users. It also taps into the data-rich benefits of programmatic buying and selling, where variables like geo-data and context can be fine-tuned to reach the right audience at the right time.”
About WebSpectator
WebSpectator pioneered the time and attention ad space with the first holistic advertising solution, combining real-time analytics and ad serving. Its proprietary and MRC accredited metric measures effective content engagement and trades the time-spent viewing ads, videos or any media component. WebSpectator technology was named a “Cool Vendor” for Media in Gartner’s Cool Vendors 2012 report. WebSpectator is compatible with all industry standards and platform apps. If you would like to learn more about the company, please visitwww.webspectator.com, on Twitter at @webspec, or via LinkedIn.
About MRC
The Media Rating Council is a nonprofit industry association established in 1964 comprised of leading television, radio, print and Internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research as well as other applicable industry measurement guidelines; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 90 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.
