Online ad viewability levels in the UK decreased dramatically from 54% to 47% in the second quarter of 2016, the lowest level for 18 months, according to a new report from ad verification company Meetrics. The last time it was lower was 46% in Q4 2014.

Consequently, the UK lags further behind other European countries in terms of viewability levels: Austria stands at 69%, France at 62% and Germany at 60%.
 

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“Viewability in the UK is more volatile than other major European markets due to the higher penetration of programmatic and automated ad buying,” said Anant Joshi, Meetrics’ Director of International Business. “The surge in ads bought programmatically contributed to the decline in viewability, which was compounded by publishers upping the speed at which ads are re-loaded or auto-refreshed to raise inventory levels and revenue. Around 20% of ads weren’t viewable because they weren’t in the frame for long enough – the highest rate we’ve seen due to this reason for some time.” 

Based on the IAB/PwC’s Adspend figures, Joshi estimates the 53% of banner ads not viewable in the UK is “getting on for £700 million¹ being wasted annually on non-viewable ads.”

An ad is considered viewable if it meets the IAB and Media Ratings Council’s recommendation that 50% of it is in view for at least 1 second.

The impressive figures for the Austrian market come off the back of an agreement by the majority of publishers to move to billing by viewable impressions by selling their inventory based on an independent viewability definition agreed by a dozen leading advertisers.

Joshi notes: “The Austrian market was one of, if not the, first to try such an initiative and the benefits in terms of far higher viewability rates are plain to see.”

APAC to overtake North America as world’s biggest digital ad market https://t.co/tDuuCMUtWV pic.twitter.com/LMmXg5SxmQ

— Will Corry (@slievemore) July 13, 2016

2016 will see Asia-Pacific overtake North America as the world’s biggest market for digital advertising spend for the first time, according to the latest Advertising Forecast from research and consulting firm, Strategy Analytics.

Digital ad spend in Asia-Pacific will rise 18.2% in 2016 to $59.7 billion, whilst North America will rise 9.6% to $59.5bn. Asia-Pacific’s rise to the top is driven by China which will grow 25.1% to $22.4bn. China is the world’s second biggest country for digital spend, behind the U.S. ($55.6bn). Together, these two countries will account for 44% of global digital ad spend this year.

Alongside China, Japan (4th) and Korea (6th) means Asia-Pacific accounts for half of the six biggest digital markets globally. By 2021, Asia-Pacific’s digital ad market will be 33% bigger than North America’s.
 

 

Michael Goodman, Strategy Analytics’ Digital Media Director, says: “Advertising is about “eyeballs” and the sheer scale of the Chinese market, along with India and Indonesia, is why Asia-Pacific will overtake North America this year, despite underlying economic weakness in some economies. Millions just can’t compete with billions.”

Spend per capita
In terms of how much is spent on digital advertising in relationship to the size of the population, North America spends by far the most per person ($165) followed by Western Europe ($95). Although Asia-Pacific is the largest market by spend, its huge population means spend per person ($15) is very low compared to the West.
 

Goodman notes, “Asia-Pacific’s relatively low ad spend per capita shows the tremendous potential for growth compared to the more saturated markets in the West, particularly with mobile phones removing a barrier to internet access in less developed markets. This will grow the online population dramatically and, consequently, ad spend will follow suit.”

Overall, digital ad spend globally will rise 12.6% in 2016 to $176.7 billion – a 32% share of total advertising spend. Within digital ad spend, search advertising will account for 52%, display advertising 36% and classifieds, 11%.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Britons who’ll watch the Olympics on TV will use an internet-connected device at the same time – according to research from marketing technology experts RadiumOne.

Among the 64% of second-screeners, online activity unrelated to the Olympics will be the most popular activity (53% of second-screeners doing this), followed by online chat/Instant Messaging about the event they’re watching (31%), searching online for event-related information or chatting on the phone about what’s on (both 30%). 
 

Nearly all (97%) of Olympic TV viewers will watch it at home, much higher than the Euro 2016 football championships (58%). Only 20% plan to watch the Olympics at a pub, half that for the Euros (39%). 



“The Olympics is much less of a social viewing experience than the Euros, which is good news for advertisers as attention is much more likely to be on the TV or a connected device than other people or surroundings,” says Craig Tuck, RadiumOne’s UK managing director. “Further good news is the large amount of second-screening enables sponsors and other advertisers looking to get in on the act to target viewers with a similar profile to the TV audience online during broadcasts, which they can’t do on TV as it’s on the BBC.”

Tuck points out the moments that matter most for connecting online and TV activity are the most popular Olympic broadcasts – the opening (watched by 71% of Olympic TV viewers) and closing (60%) ceremonies and the BBC highlights shows (56%). 

“In addition to these “moments”, individual events are also a great opportunity to tie online ads to the athletes taking part,” he says. “For example, Santander and Vitality Insurance can coordinate online ads with broadcasts of Jessica Ennis-Hill’s heptathlon events, who they sponsor, as could Puma and Virgin Media during Usain Bolt’s events.”

Trailers account for less than one quarter of content shared from film-related websites according to new research from marketing technology experts RadiumOne.

An analysis of over 262,000 instances of content shared from film-related sites revealed trailers account for just 23% of shares, behind film reviews (27%) but ahead of information about the cast (13%). Together, these three topics account for nearly two-thirds (63%) of film content shared.

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