Paid Search and Facebook (Meta) ads have been atop the list of useful tactics for a while. Viewability is of zero concern with those tactics, and SEM would even have us ignoring ad impressions all together. As you venture into exchange inventory across the web for image and video placements, viewability is something that you should be monitoring. In case someone reading this has the question, IAB deems an ad “viewable” if at least 50% of it is in view for at least 1 second.

We don’t normally suggest 3rd party verification for viewability, nor brand safety, but there are settings, targeting options, and reports available to monitor and control the quality of inventory coming through your DSP buys. It’s important to understand the different targeting options, where you can target or block inventory known to be (a) above the fold, or (b) below the fold, keeping in mind that a lot of placements haven’t been confirmed one way or the other. Targeting only placements known to be ATF will be expensive and limited in scale, but blocking placements known to be below the fold is a safe place to start.

Not all ad impressions are alike, the same way that not all clicks are alike. Once again, proper tracking and clean data are critical. Some of this is also gut feel, where an experienced media buyer can lend insight into the quality of your buy, what options are available to control that quality, and what specific changes would mean to your KPIs and overall performance. Also, don’t completely count placements out just because they’re below the fold, it’s about cost-effectiveness, more than face value.