Selling Up: 4 Metrics That Establish Premium Inventory

In digital advertising, premium inventory is a commodity that is highly valued by advertisers and publishers alike. Advertisers are willing to spend more to reach premium audiences. At the same time, publishers reap the rewards of developing those audiences in the form of higher CPMs. In theory, premium inventory benefits everyone.

But in exchange for the heftier price tag, advertisers and brands want data-backed assurance of quality. The pursuit of that assurance is why both sides spend a great deal of time and resources on finding, buying and selling premium inventory. This raises an important question - what exactly is it that makes premium inventory so premium? The specific answers to that question may vary depending on who you ask, but generally speaking, there are some qualities that most buyers are always looking for. Let’s dive into a few of them now.

High Viewability: Premium Inventory is More Visible

For digital ad space to be more valuable, it needs to be more viewable. Viewability is a metric that advertisers value because their ad can’t make an impact if it isn’t being seen. But what makes one inventory unit more viewable than another?

The industry standard for viewability comes from the Interactive Ad Bureau (IAB) and the Media Ratings Council (MRC). They state that for an ad to be considered viewable, at least 50% of it must be seen for a certain period of time - one second for display ads, or two seconds for video. Some other industry groups maintain higher standards, so it’s important to know who you are working with. If an ad unit is consistently performing at or above that threshold, then it is considered to have high viewability, which boosts its appeal to potential buyers.

Low Fraud: Premium Audiences are Authentic

In addition to being seen at all, an ad must also be seen by human beings. That’s not always a guarantee in digital advertising, where invalid traffic (IVT) has become a multi-billion dollar business. Fraudsters come up with new schemes every day that redirect ad spend to false impressions, and without protective measures, it’s almost impossible for advertisers and publishers to keep up.

There is a direct correlation between a low fraud rate and higher inventory value. But perhaps even more important than the data is how quickly you can see where your inventory stands. Real-time solutions like DV’s Inventory Quality allow publishers to optimize their inventory along advertiser KPIs and reduce exposure to fraud and IVT.

Brand Suitability: Premium Inventory Aligns with Buyer Values

While viewability and fraud have industry-wide standards or inherent correlations attached to them, brand suitability is a more nuanced issue. Advertisers want to know they’re working with publishers that align with their own corporate values. That can get complicated for publishers because no two brands’ suitability needs are exactly the same.

Holistic and transparent solutions are needed to maximize alignment and speed up the process of finding compatible buyers. Our own Brand Suitability Guide discusses the importance of this, and explores what more nuanced and granular brand suitability controls can offer advertisers. A better approach to brand suitability means a clearer path to making your inventory look more premium to your buyers.

Attention: Premium Audiences Provide More Engagement 

Audience engagement is another quality that can boost buyer appeal. Though volume is certainly important, it’s not the only benchmark that matters. Advertisers want to know that a publisher’s audience is both paying attention to and engaging with their ad. This is becoming more important to advertisers as the industry prepares itself for a more private internet in the coming years. Though the exact date of third-party deprecation is uncertain, the need for reliable first-party attention measurement is already here. 

DV’s Authentic Attention solution helps premium inventory stand out to advertisers by delivering privacy-friendly attention metrics in near real-time. It’s the first solution of its kind to receive MRC accreditation across devices and for both standard display and video ads. For even more attention insights, DV also releases a quarterly benchmark report that offers an up-to-date snapshot of key attention metrics and trends.

Being able to present your inventory as “premium” can pave the way to more revenue, better relationships with brands, and an improved long-term outlook for your business. But the main takeaway here is that it isn’t enough for your inventory to simply have the qualities that advertisers value. You must also be able to show it with clear and compelling data that establishes a track record of success. That’s exactly why companies like DV exist; to help publishers and advertisers save valuable time and resources by getting to the data that matters most, and helping both sides do business better, faster and more often.

Interested in learning more about DV Publisher Suite? Reach out today and request a demo with us!