Gourmet Ads Launches Viewability Tracking for Advertisers, Publishers

NEW YORK, Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As digital advertisers embrace viewable impressions as the only metric that really counts, global food ad network Gourmet Ads (http://www.gourmetads.com) announces it has added viewability reporting to its already robust console for publishers.

Partnering with online advertising analytics company Pixalate, Gourmet Ads is using its application programming interface (API) to pull impression data each day showing the publisher's viewability rates for both the domain and at placement level, delivering a complete picture for advertisers. A simple traffic light system (red, amber or green) indicates which ad units have low viewability, which require attention, and which are getting the most views.

"We're increasingly being asked by advertising agencies and programmatic buyers for targeting solutions based on viewability," said Gourmet Ads' founder Benjamin Christie. "Ensuring publishers have high viewability placements on their websites is the first step in the process."

Gourmet Ads first started internal reporting on viewability with Pixalate in April, with initial ratings in the low double digits across its network. Since adding viewability reporting to its Publisher Console, paired with an ongoing program to educate publishers on how to improve viewability of individual placements, average viewability rate across the Gourmet Ads network has skyrocketed to 56%.

"Now that we're providing daily viewability ratings we are on track to reach our goal of 70% by the end of 2013," Christie said.

"We are very excited to be partnering with Gourmet Ads in bringing our analytics technology to the marketplace to help both publishers and advertisers improve their viewability ratings," said Pixalate CEO Jalal Nasir. "By rating publisher placements and offering viewability as a targetable category, Pixalate sets up clients to optimize their campaigns from the get-go." 

Viewability that is Actionable and Targetable for Advertisers
Simply reporting viewability on a post-impression basis does not help advertisers much as it's a report after the fact. Viewability must be targetable from the outset of a campaign. Among Gourmet Ads' initiatives is a number of targetable categories built using Pixalate's highest rated placements (those achieving 65%+ and 80%+ viewability) for buyers on the Appnexus ad server and via Rubicon Project. This allows both direct advertisers and programmatic buyers (via private marketplaces) to select only the highest rated placements across the Gourmet Ads network in real time.

For information visit www.gourmetads.com. For a screen shot of Gourmet Ads' new Publisher Dashboard, go to http://swordfishcomm.com/images/press/GourmetAds_PublisherDashboard.jpg.

About Gourmet Ads
Gourmet Ads (http://www.gourmetads.com) is a global food marketing network focusing on branding campaigns for reaching the grocery buyer online. With operations in the United States, U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Gourmet Ads consists of over 350+ cooking websites where consumers are spending time online researching recipes, including its own recipe search engine RecipeBridge.com (www.recipebridge.com). Gourmet Ads develops customized advertising solutions from regular IAB units, to portal type solutions such as background skins, roadblocks and interstitials which go beyond the banner. It has represented such brands as General Mills, Starbucks, Orville Redenbacher's, Campbell's, Nestle, Swiffer and Kraft Foods, as well as retailers Walmart, Kroger, Fresh & Easy and Safeway.

SOURCE Gourmet Ads