Google lets advertisers set custom viewability criteria in Display & Video 360

Google on Wednesday announced the launch of three new measurement features for Google’s enterprise-level ad buying platform Display & Video 360 (previously known as DoubleClick Bid Manager). All three are now rolling out globally.

Here’s what you need to know.

Custom viewability metrics. Some advertisers and agencies, GroupM most notably, think the Media Ratings Council’s (MRC’s) standards for viewability (50 percent of an ad’s pixels in view for at least 1 second for display and 2 seconds for video) don’t provide adequate measurement for what constitutes a viewable ad impression. For advertisers and agencies that want to set higher thresholds than the MRC, Google has launched custom metrics in Display & Video 360. With this new tool, advertisers can design their own criteria for video viewability, measured by Google’s Active View solution.

Once the custom metrics are set up, they are reported for all video campaigns within hours. Advertisers will still see MRC accredited reporting, as well as audibility and other viewability metrics based on Active View in the Display & Video 360 interface.

Unique Reach reporting. With Unique Reach reporting, visitors are de-duped across devices, campaigns, inventory and formats. Advertisers can get a better picture of how many people their campaigns reached and how often. Google also expanded the lookback window to up to three months. Reporting is available at the campaign and site level.

Brand Lift measurement for all video buys. Google is expanding Brand Lift reporting beyond YouTube to all video bought through Display & Video 360. The idea is that advertisers will be able to compare video campaign performance across channels — and compare those channels to YouTube. Brand Lift metrics include brand awareness, ad recall and consideration and the lift in brand searches on Google and YouTube. Reports can be segmented by audiences, creatives and publishers.

Brand Lift is also going self-service. Currently, advertisers have to work with their account reps to get access to these studies. In the coming months, advertisers will be able to set up studies and view Brand Lift reporting in the Display & Video 360 interface.

MRC and third-party measurement. Google also announced new MRC accreditations and updates on its third-party measurement partnerships. Read the full coverage on our sister site MarTech Today.