Facebook Adds Support For Third-Party Verified Viewable Impression Bidding

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Facebook is getting on board with the move to buy digital advertising based on impressions that are served in view on users’ screens. Thursday, the company announced support for viewable impression bidding on all News Feed advertising, including text, photo, link and video ads.

Third-party video ad viewability verification will be handled by Moat. The Moat integration will also give advertisers stats on Facebook video ad views and view lengths.

Facebook says Moat technology will eventually be used to verify other News Feed ad units, as well as ads on Instagram.

The MRC standard for viewability for display ads is that 50 percent of the ad’s pixels must be in view for at least one second. For video, the duration is two seconds. Facebook’s viewable impression standard is 100 percent of the ad being in view, from top to bottom. But given the scrolling habits of users through the Facebook News Feed, the 100 percent viewability threshold isn’t much of a stretch for the company.

Many brand advertisers have balked at the lack of third-party measurement on Facebook and Google’s YouTube. Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that YouTube is preparing to start allowing outside measurement firms in by year-end. With today’s announcement, Facebook preempts YouTube’s moves in this realm.

Keith Weed, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Unilever, said in the announcement, “It is very encouraging to see Facebook joining the ranks of digital media partners who are setting themselves apart — and this commitment continues the momentum. Our hope is that these steps will lead ultimately to 100 percent viewability through third-party verification across the industry.”