Forensiq uses several approaches to understand if the video or display ad is viewable by the user and if the website is using malicious tactics to hide the ad. Other metrics like audibility and user interaction reveal whether video ad players are set to mute, low volume, or regular volume and whether the user interacted with the ad. Such metrics are provided separately and are not used as a proxy for determining viewability. Viewability measurement is based on the ad creative and not the container.
Measures when 50% (except for large size ads based on the 30% of pixels [242,500 pixels]) of the ad is in-view continuously at the following intervals:
Metrics | Description | Criteria/Calculation |
Gross Metrics (Unfiltered) | ||
Gross Impression | All impressions including GIVT and SIVT. | An impression is counted at minimum on begin-to-render. |
Net Metrics (Filtered for General IVT) | ||
Net Impression | All impressions excluding GIVT. | A net impression is counted at minimum on begin-to-render, excluding the ones determined to be GIVT. Net Impressions = Gross Impressions - GIVT Impressions |
Net Viewable Measured | Indicates that Forensiq was able to successfully complete viewability measurement, with GIVT counts excluded. | If Forensiq was able to successfully complete viewability measurement. Certain exclusions apply (see Viewable Measurement Exclusions), with GIVT counts excluded. |
Net Viewable [1, 2, 5, 10, 30 sec] | Viewable % of measured impressions at 1s (display ads only), 2s (video ads only), 5s, 10s, and 30s (display ads only), with GIVT counts excluded. | If 50% of the ad is determined to be seen continuously (except in cases of large format ads) for the specified period of time after the ad has rendered or the video has started playing (post-buffer), with GIVT counts excluded. |
Net Non-Viewable | Within the impressions that Forensiq is able to measure, the number of impressions determined to be non-viewable based on the viewability criteria, with GIVT counts excluded. | Net Non-Viewable = Net Viewable Measured - Net Viewable |
Net Viewable Undetermined | Indicates an incomplete viewability measurement, with GIVT counts excluded. | If Forensiq was not able to successfully complete viewability measurement, with GIVT counts excluded. Net Viewable Undetermined = Net Impressions - Net Viewable Measured |
Net Viewable Rate % | The rate of viewable impressions within all impressions that Forensiq is able to determine their viewability, with GIVT counts excluded. | Net Viewable Rate % = Net Viewable/Net Viewable Measured |
Net Impression Distribution Measured Rate % | The percentage of Net Viewable Measured within all Net Impressions. | Net Impression Distribution Measured Rate % = Net Viewable Measured/Net Impressions |
Net Impression Distribution Viewable % | The percentage of Net Viewable within all Net Impressions. | Net Impression Distribution Viewable % = Net Viewable/Net Impressions |
Net Impression Distribution Non-Viewable % | The percentage of Net Non-Viewable within all Net Impressions. | Net Impression Distribution Non-Viewable % = Net Non-Viewable/Net Impressions |
Net Impression Distribution Unmeasured % | The percentage of Net Viewable Undetermined within all Net Impressions. | Net Impression Distribution Unmeasured % = Net Viewable Undetermined/Net Impressions |
Total Net Metrics (Filtered for GIVT and SIVT) | ||
Total Net Impression | All impressions excluding GIVT and SIVT. | A Total Net impression is counted at minimum on begin-to-render, excluding the ones determined to be GIVT and SIVT. Total Net Impressions = Gross Impressions - GIVT Impressions - SIVT Impressions |
Total Net Viewable Measured | Indicates that Forensiq was able to successfully complete viewability measurement, with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. | If Forensiq was able to successfully complete viewability measurement. Certain exclusions apply (see Viewable Measurement Exclusions), with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. |
Total Net Viewable [1, 2, 5, 10, 30 sec] | Viewable % of measured impressions at 1s (display ads only), 2s (video ads only), 5s, 10s, and 30s (display ads only), with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. | If 50% of the ad is determined to be seen continuously (except in cases of large format ads) for the specified period of time after the ad has rendered or the video has started playing (post-buffer), with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. |
Total Net Non-Viewable | Within the impressions that Forensiq is able to measure, the number of impressions determined to be non-viewable based on the viewability criteria, with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. | Total Net Non-Viewable = Total Net Viewable Measured - Total Net Viewable |
Total Net Viewable Undetermined | Indicates an incomplete viewability measurement, with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. | If Forensiq was not able to successfully complete viewability measurement, with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. Total Net Viewable Undetermined = Total Net Impressions - Total Net Viewable Measured |
Total Net Viewable Rate % | The rate of viewable impressions within all impressions that Forensiq is able to determine their viewability, with GIVT and SIVT counts excluded. | Total Net Viewable Rate % = Total Net Viewable/Total Net Viewable Measured |
Total Net Impression Distribution Measured Rate % | The percentage of Total Net Viewable Measured within all Total Net Impressions. | Total Net Impression Distribution Measured Rate % = Total Net Viewable Measured/Total Net Impressions |
Total Net Impression Distribution Viewable % | The percentage of Total Net Viewable within all Total Net Impressions. | Total Net Impression Distribution Viewable % = Total Net Viewable/Total Net Impressions |
Total Net Impression Distribution Non-Viewable % | The percentage of Total Net Non-Viewable within all Total Net Impressions. | Total Net Impression Distribution Non-Viewable % = Total Net Non-Viewable/Total Net Impressions |
Total Net Impression Distribution Unmeasured % | The percentage of Total Net Viewable Undetermined within all Total Net Impressions. | Total Net Impression Distribution Unmeasured % = Total Net Viewable Undetermined/Total Net Impressions |
Forensiq uses certain criteria to ensure an impression is eligible for measurement.
The browser was not in a list of browsers excluded from measurement. These browsers were determined to be unreliable for viewability measurement and include:
IE 8 or earlier
Firefox 16 or earlier
Chrome 26 or earlier
Opera 38 or earlier
Viewability measurements are natively supported in the browser. Currently supported browsers include:
Chrome 51+
Opera 38+
Edge 15+
Firefox 55+
Viewability measurements are supported through Forensiq's polyfill, which covers all modern browsers.
In cases where clients choose to disable viewability measurement, we will report the impressions as “Impressions Not Intended for Viewability”.
An impression measured for display viewability needs to satisfy all of the following criteria:
An impression measured for video viewability needs to satisfy all of the following criteria:
Either one of the following conditions are satisfied:
The ad element id is specified through a value passed to the ad key of Forensiq's tag (e.g.,
&ad={myadid}).If ad is specified, we need to be able to find the video element with such ID or a container that contains the video player with the ID on the page or the parent element if we are in a friendly iframe.
We are able to identify one video element on the page we are implemented on.
The video is playing.
We implement two criteria for measuring an event as viewable. Both criteria need to be satisfied for the entire period of 1 second (display ads only), 2 seconds (video ads only), 5, 10, 30 seconds (display ads only) continuously:
Web browser reports at least 50% of the ad is in-view AND
Any of the following native in-app methodologies report the event as in-view:
MRAID 2 or 3
OMID
We will consider an impression as viewable if either of the second counters are returned with a value of 2, 5, and 10 for video or 1, 5, 10 and 30 for display image ads. This indicates that we were recording viewability continuously for the indicated number of seconds and at least 50% of the ad is in view. If the ad is not in view for any amount of time, the viewability counter will be reset and start again if the ad comes back into view.
To check for viewability, Forensiq respects the polling intervals suggested by MRC, which are 100ms for display and 200ms for video.
Forensiq also ensures that the page is not running in a background tab by using the browser’s visibility API. If the browser is running in a background tab, we will not consider an impression as viewable, but will still count it as measured.
In addition to viewability, Forensiq captures other metrics, which are not used as a proxy for determining viewability.
Reason Code | Description | Criteria |
Inaudibility | The video ad was muted or played in "whisper" mode at a very low volume. | If the volume of the video player for the ads is below a certain threshold. |
Hidden Risk | The ad was placed in an invisible html element or an iframe that is abnormally small. | If the ad component is set to invisible or an iframe that is smaller than a certain size. |
Low User Interaction | The user didn’t interact with the ad. | If the user did not move their mouse within the ad container. |
Verify that the partner-reported domain is the actual domain on which the ad appeared. Tactics used by partners to hide or fake domains include domain spoofing and domain masking via front-domains.
Reason Code | Description | Criteria |
Cloaked Domains | Cloaked Domain enables undesirable properties such as pirate and adult portals to sell inventory under a high-CPM category such as auto or travel. | There is a mismatch between the domain where the ad appeared and the referring domain. |
Domain Spoofing | Domain Spoofing allows partners to misrepresent low-quality inventory as coming from high quality sources. | The partner reports an inaccurate domain to the exchange. The ad never appeared on the partner-reported domain. |
Ad Injection | Often bundled with other software like games and toolbars, Ad Injection artificially inflates the number of ads on a page and can lead to a negative user experience. | The ad was loaded by ad injection software. |
Misconfigured | The domain is reported to Forensiq incorrectly, but the top domain is readily available. | The true domain appears in the query string of the referring URL, but was not reported to Forensiq. |
True URL metrics are currently reported in a separate view from IVT (Traffic Quality) and Viewability, and are not part of the score.