Viewability for CTV and gaming consoles (Beta)

Ad Manager reporting provides an Active view measurement source dimension that identifies the source of the active view data with the possible values of Measures, Provided or Inferred. For  CTV and gaming console inventory, the Active view measurement data can be inferred by Ad Manager when it is not directly measured on the client.

On this page:

• About inferred viewability
• Implementing IMA/OM SDK
• Which ad requests qualify for inferred viewability?
• Reporting
• View supported devices
• Frequently asked questions

About inferred viewability

Viewability is a measurement methodology that uses signals from the browser to estimate whether or not an ad was viewable. Inferred viewability applies to qualified CTV environments where some of these measurements can be inferred based on the environment rather than directly measured. Qualifying video inventory is presumed to be 100% on screen and counted as a viewable after 2 continuous seconds of playback.

These signals include ad factors such as:

• Ad size
• Position on the screen
• How long the ad was visible

Publishers can use this data to help understand the effectiveness of an ad campaign.

When does it apply?

Inferred viewability helps publishers understand viewability for their inventory on CTV and gaming consoles, where direct measurement is not possible due to resource limitations. This feature also covers server-side ad requests and IMA/PAL client-side ad queries.

How is it derived?

To determine if an ad is viewable, Active View uses a combination of server-side and client-side data.

Server-side data includes information such as the:

• Ad request
• Placement
• Device

Client-side data includes information such as the:

• Browser
• Operating system
• User's viewing environment

Active View uses this data to calculate two metrics:

• Measurable impressions that were eligible for measurement.
• Viewable impressions that are viewable and measurable.

The viewable rate is calculated by dividing the number of viewable impressions by the number of measurable impressions.

Which ad requests qualify for inferred viewability?

Components that qualify an ad impression as viewable includes:

• Ad unit visibility on screen is a minimum 50%.
• Video ads that play for more than 2 seconds.

Instream video publishers that make server-side or IMA/PAL client-side ad queries from CTV and Gaming Console devices may be eligible for and opted-into inferred viewability.

Implementing IMA/OM SDK

Implementation options include the IMA SDK, PAL+Open Measurement (OM) SDK and Inferred viewability.

• IMA SDK is for the broadest set of signals.
• PAL+OM SDK for direct measurement when not using IMA SDK. OM SDK supports some CTV platforms.
• Inferred Viewability covers some remaining CTV applications and gaming consoles where direct measurement is not supported.

We recommend implementing the OM SDK for viewability and verification measurement for ads served. The OM SDK is available through IMA/GMA SDK or it can be directly implemented by the publisher.

Reporting

You can use the “Active View measurement source” dimension. Eligible ad requests will have the “Inferred” value in your report results.

View supported devices

Ad requests eligible for inferred viewability are supported by the following CTV and Gaming Console devices.

The "Viewable" validation (see Video ads that play for more than 2 seconds) is completed through other signals from the CTV device/server (ad playback quartile pings or viewable pings).

Frequently asked questions

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