Why is this so important? Can’t we just keep on keeping on the way we are now?

Sure we can. So long as have little ambitions about our future, we can keep the status quo. However, the online crowd is an ambitious and entrepreneurial lot. We don’t stick with the status quo for long – after all, aren’t we constantly complaining about cut & past campaigns from the past maintaining “old media” alive?

The truth is we collectively need to shape up. Yes online is complicated, yes we’ve but barely scratched the surface and yes we’re still learning how this works.

So let’s keep at it. Why are validated ad impressions so important beyond what I wrote in last week’s post?

Validating ad impressions will have many effects on a number of different issues. Let’s consider them:

Trust

If we go the extra mile and “don’t count” non-validated ad impressions by only charging an advertiser for ads that are actually in-view, in-geography, in brand-safe environments and not against fraudulent content, we will increase by an important factor the trust these advertiser have in this industry of ours. Once that trust in our transparency is earned and maintained, we’ll have elevated ourselves above many other media who still pay and value media exposure based on surveys rather than a census; we’ll elevate ourselves above media that charge for the value of the content against which the ad is positioned, but not the actual audience that ad has…

Measurement

Cross media optimisation studies so far have not factored in only validated impressions. Imagine if that were now the case for a moment. Studies that currently show online as having a positive brand impact for a certain budget would in fact yield a much higher performance (30% higher on average) because only validated ads would have been paid for. Unseen and un-valued ad impressions wouldn’t be counted and wouldn’t drag down an increase in awareness or intent-to-buy

Clickthrough

Despite the fact that the clickthrough has relatively little value, it would benefit none the less by an average 30% increase. Counted clicks are actual clicks by people whereas unvalidated ad impressions aren’t necessarily seen by real people, in the right environment or geography. The current average of 0.09% would go up to 0,12% (big woop). Highly performing campaigns on a clic basis would benefit greatly.

Conversions

The same is true for conversions. If an advertiser only pays for validated ad impressions, he’ll generate more conversions with the same budget – probably 30% more. By generating more conversions, online ad vendors will build more loyalty with their advertiser clients, and generate more sales at the end of the day.

These are all great reasons to jump on the validated ad impression bandwagon early on. Can you name more reasons? Please leave a comment below.