US Digital Video Ad Viewability Rates Improve in H2 2022

June 9, 2023

Ad viewability rates maintained their “upward momentum” in the second half of last year, according to the latest report [download page] from Integral Ad Science. Worldwide, average viewability stood at 73.6% in H2 2022, down slightly from the first half of the year (74.5%) but up on a year-over-year basis (from 72.9%). While viewability rates improved the most in the EMEA and APAC regions, the Americas led again on the back of an uninterrupted rise since H1 2021.

Globally, desktop display viewability improved to 71.6% from 70.1% in H2 2021, while mobile web display viewability rose from 65.6% to 66.8%. However, viewability for mobile app display ads fell from 77.6% to 73.9%.

Regarding video formats, on a global basis desktop video ad viewability improved from 74.8% in H2 2021 to 76.4% in H2 2022, while mobile web video ad viewability climbed from 76.6% to 79.2%. Mobile apps showed the opposite trend again, with video ad viewability in this format tumbling from 92.6% to 81.1%.

Connected TV (CTV) ad viewability again led all formats in H2, at 93.5%.

Within the US, where digital video ad spend continues to grow, viewability for video ads showed strong improvement across both desktop (73.3%, up from 66.1%) and mobile web (74.7%, up from 64.4%). Display ad viewability had more mixed results, rising for desktop (73%, up from 72.3%) and mobile web (70.3%, up from 69.1%) but falling for mobile apps (84.1%, down from 89.3%).

Time in View

Time-in-view, as defined by IAS, is “the average duration that a viewable impression remains in view.” The report notes that only impressions viewable according to the Media Rating Council standard are included in their calculation.

Unlike viewability, which has improved over time, time-in-view has been on a “downward trajectory” since H1 2020, when it reached a peak global average of 18.4 seconds. In H2 2022, the average time-in-view for ads around the world was 16.43 seconds.

Within the US, however, there were signs of improvement. The average time-in-view for desktop display in the US was 21.5 seconds (up from 20.09 seconds in H2 2021), while mobile app display averaged 18.39 seconds (up from 16.31 seconds). The average time-in-view for mobile web display experienced a decline, though, from 15.88 seconds in H2 2021 to 14.85 seconds in H2 2022.

Brand Risk

Brand risk, as defined by IAS, refers to “impressions on pages that are flagged for posing various levels of harm to brand image and/or reputation through association, based on eight core content categories: Adult, Alcohol, Gambling, Hate Speech, Illegal Downloads, Illegal Drugs, Offensive Language, and Violence.”

Desktop display risk both globally and in the US has stabilized and slightly reversed course, respectively, after previous improvements. Globally, it stood at 1.5% in H2 2021, compared to 1.4% in H2 2021, while in the US it rose (worsened) from 1.9% to 2.5% during that period. Desktop video risk improved to an average of 1.2% worldwide (down from 1.9%) and 0.9% in the US (down from 1.8%).

A similar dichotomy between display and video was witnessed for mobile. Mobile web display risk worsened globally to 2.2% (from 2.0%) and in the US to 4.2% (from 2.7%). However, mobile web video brand risk improved between H2 2021 (2.7%) and H2 2022 (1.8%) globally, with improvement also observed in the US (from 2.6% in H2 2021 to 1.1% in H2 2022).

Finally, the report notes that “ad fraud rates stabilized in 2022,” remaining at historically high levels on desktop and historically low levels on mobile. Ad fraud is defined as “any impressions resulting from a deliberate activity that prevents the proper delivery of ads to real people, at the right time, in the right place — resulting in financial or opportunity loss by the advertiser and/or publisher in a particular transaction.”

For more, download the report here.

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