A Winning Formula for Publishers

Running a publisher site is a lot like conducting a never-ending science experiment.

Whether it’s user behavior, load times, RPMs, web page responsiveness, or countless other variables, any one element can determine the success or squandering of that most precious resource: genuine attention time from engaged users.

Of all the opportunities on the table for publishers, video remains the most promising specimen in the laboratory. In the age of YouTube and TikTok, video enthralls text-weary visitors, sends engagement time skyrocketing, and strengthens the loyalty of even your regular audience. But, getting video right is also notoriously difficult. No one wants to deflect flyby visitors with intrusive ads, or bog down load times with heavy players.

How can publishers maximize the viewability and revenue generated by their video players, while ensuring a high-quality user experience?

In this guide, we’ll look at the science behind online video engagement, helping publishers assess the performance of their program across three key dimensions—technology, content, and UX—so you can optimize for your audience.

As brands and agencies demand greater transparency from supply-side partners, viewability has become table stakes for any video campaign. Finding the right technology partners can help you deliver a premium, contextually relevant experience, earning trust from advertisers and consumers alike.

That trust is the essential catalyst which sets everything else in motion, leading to higher viewability, increased dwell times, and more dollars from brand advertisers.

While the buzz around online video ebbs and flows, the overarching trend is clear. Audiences are obsessed with video, and they continue to watch more hours across mobile and desktop screens each day. Savvy media owners of all sizes and verticals are positioning themselves to capture the windfall.

It wasn’t long ago that viewability was the hottest new controversy in the world of online media. Several years ago, a flurry of reports first focused the industry’s attention around an alarming figure: more than half of digital ad impressions (including video) were unviewable.¹¹

This revelation spawned a cautionary tale: the ghostly video ad that plays into the void, hidden either below the fold or behind layers of pop-ups and other view-jacking tactics. Such phantoms cost advertisers billions of dollars in waste each year.

After cracking down on fake clicks and traffic bots, the industry has since moved aggressively to ensure better viewability standards for videos. If there’s a hint of poor quality, or any suspicion of foul play, publishers risk not only losing out on higher CPMs, but seeing entire revenue pipelines go dry.

David Murray

Digital Commercial Lead, Officialcharts.com

“Like most publishers, the focus on viewability has been at the forefront of nearly every strategy decision we have made in recent years. Brands need to know that their ads are being seen, as a non-viewable ad will naturally struggle across other performance metrics, and poor results not only negatively affect the advertiser, but they also ultimately hurt the pockets of the publisher by driving down yields.

Our 70%+ viewability results allow us to have robust and effective conversations with brands and agencies, as not hitting the viewability benchmark instantly builds a hurdle that has previously stopped a sales pitch in its tracks. Last month, 54% of our overall revenue was driven by onsite video. Simply put, without us hitting the required 70% benchmark, we would lose the deals driving that stream of income.

We also use our viewability metrics (alongside dwell time) to better inform the editorial team of wins across highly engaging editorial content. I believe that by ensuring we are hitting viewability benchmarks, it makes us as a publisher strive to do our best for our advertisers.”

While there’s no single definition of viewability, arguably the most commonly cited standard is the one released jointly by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Media Ratings Council (MRC), which defines the term as follows: At least 50% of a video ad’s pixels must appear on-screen for at least 2 consecutive seconds.¹²

That might sound like a low bar, but it’s still far from reality. Average viewability rates can range from 50-90% across various online ad formats, raising significant concerns and advantages to be won or lost, depending on the quality of one’s supply chain.

Today, media agencies and DSPs compete on the premium quality of their supply partners’ video inventory. Some strive for 100% in-view ads, while others look for at least 50% completion of a native or outstream ad.

Looking ahead, the only guarantee is that these definitions will continue to evolve. Publishers can stay one step ahead by always using engagement and UX as a north star, which by transitive property, will all but ensure strong viewability regardless of criteria.

Tito Flores III

Group Director, Digital Investment, MediaCom

“Advertisers want every chance to succeed. So, partners have to meet minimum viewability requirements; that’s your general admission ticket to be considered. But the minimum won’t equate to real success. Maximizing viewability is how you navigate your way into VIP (very important partner) status.”

What’s the connection between chemistry and online video? Whenever there are countless variables in play, it helps to break things down into their constituent parts. By looking at each building block, you can learn how to best combine each element and capitalize on its unique characteristics. The pathway to success is to test, iterate, retest, optimize, repeat. To bring this philosophy to life, we created a “periodic table” of video engagement that arranges our atomic elements into three broad groups: Content, Technology, and UX.

All three dimensions are required to deliver impactful video experiences. And, any one element can make or break your formula, if not calibrated appropriately for your particular audience and publication.

Like any clever chemist, innovative publishers constantly experiment with a variety of tools and techniques to spark improved outcomes. Gathered below is a shortlist of key elements that have generated the highest level of impact across EX.CO’s hundreds of publisher partners, often generating results of up to 40% higher RPMs and 3x dwell times, sometimes in a matter of weeks.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to video. While audiences on VICE.com may be inclined to watch longer feature videos, visitors to a local news site like SFGate may be more inclined towards a series of clips about the week’s major headlines.

Publishers must take stock of their unique editorial brand and audience before deciding which video strategy is right for them. Whatever route you take, you’re working towards a common goal—creating environments conducive to people spending time with the player.

Know your architecture

• Start with an audit of your current website layout and taxonomy, assessing all opportunities for where and how to launch or optimize video players.
• If you have primarily text-based articles, supplement these experiences with videos that promote related content from syndicated publisher feeds or sponsored brand libraries.
• For digital-first publishers with lots of galleries or infinite-scroll experiences, promote a targeted, high-impact video through responsive players that adapt to the evolving page UX.

Know your audience

• Continuously analyze your audience’s behavior to understand where people are spending time on your site, what types of content they’re consuming, and how they navigate between pages and sections.
• Look beyond Google Analytics to heatmap tools like Hotjar or FullStory to see where users focus their attention on each page, how much of an article or gallery they’re consuming before bouncing, and which calls-to-action (CTAs) are actually working.
• Fine-tune your overall inventory by amplifying popular video categories
(e.g. games, entertainment, or shopping) and dialing back your video footprint.

There’s certainly no shortage of vendors in the marketing technology space today. But, it can be challenging to find a solution that fits not only your current requirements, but will grow and adapt alongside your business as a true partner.

Investing the necessary time up-front in the selection process will pay enormous dividends when it comes to executing and proving the value of your video program. Here are a few things to look for.

• Deep expertise in content — not just in ad tech

  If a technology solution has been successfully leveraged by editorial and audience development teams, chances are it’s well-suited to deliver premium video ad experiences as well.

  Technical support for a variety of video formats.

  Flexibility is key in the age of digital, and you’ll need a partner that supports a range of player formats including in-stream, footer, header, sticky, carousel,
and more.

• Advanced capabilities in contextual targeting

  The death of cookies means that publishers need to work with technology partners that can place ads based on context, inferring audience interest based on situational cues.

• Lightweight players that load quickly, everywhere

  Evaluate each player type with rigorous technical Q/A tests to ensure they are optimized for speed and responsiveness.

• Robust syndication libraries

  No matter how large or small your owned video library, syndicated videos can enhance your static article or gallery pages with contextually relevant content.

• Free trials for multiple team members

  The only way to gain full confidence in a partner is to take their solution for a test drive, and make it easy for colleagues to join as well.

Johanna Bergqvist

General Manager, The Americas at EX.CO

“Look for a true partner who will dedicate product resources to your relationship, 
a partner that will look at your site holistically and work with different stakeholders to ensure the solution meets and fulfills everybody’s KPIs. For example, user experience is important when activating a floating player so ask for customization and branding to ensure it looks native and seamless. This experience will help boost viewability and therefore ad revenue for both your demand stack and your partners while also driving engagement without sacrificing the UX.”

Secure your future with a video technology partner that prioritizes premium content and viewable players. This will keep your publication competitive when it comes to attracting brand dollars and agency budgets; it will also equip your editorial teams with the necessary tools for keeping audiences engaged and combing back for more.

Discover why over 500 leading publishers — including Hearst, CBSi, Refinery29, VICE, and more — choose EX.CO to enhance their websites and grow faster through engaging video.

Daniel Ventura

Director, HuffPost Spain

“EX.CO has always been an ally for HuffPost. Their technology has been vital in increasing our readers’ engagement with our content, allowing us to offer our best content in a more enjoyable way for our readers and without the need to add complicated processes to our workflow. The fact these units contain a monetizable element and therefore a potential stable source of income makes it even better.”

1. Think with Google, “Ad Viewability: Revenue Uplift Statistics”, 2019
2. Enterprise Apps Today, “Video Marketing Statistics”, March 2022
3. eMarketer, “Insider Intelligence: Digital Video”, April 2022
4. Enterprise Apps Today
5. Wistia, “2022 State vof Video Report”
6. CNBC, “Digital Ad Spend Grows Despite Pandemic”, April 2021
7. Statista, “Worldwide Online Video Advertising Spending, 2020 to 2024”
8. IAB, “Digital Advertising Soared 35% to $189 Billion in 2021”
9. DoubleVerify, “2021 Global Insights Report”
10. Yans Media, “Mobile Video Statistics”, 2020
11. New York Times, “The Great Unwatched” May 2014 and “AdAge, 56% of Digital Ads Served Are Never Seen, Says Google”, December 2014
12. AdPushUp, “A Primer on IAB and MRC Ad Viewability Standards”, Sept. 2020