... “the display advertising market today is characterized by an overabundance of inventory, often residing on parts of a web page that are never viewed by the user. This dilutes the impact of campaigns for advertisers and represents a drag on prices to publishers.”
The solution to this less than ideal situation is, apparently, vCE (Validated Campaign Essentials), a new gizmo developed by comScore that provides an unduplicated accounting of impressions across a range of dimensions, for example ads delivered “in-vew,” in the right geographic market, in a brand-safe environment and absent of fraudulent delivery.
The new metric claims to reflect measurement of ads that were delivered and had an opportunity to impact consumers. Additionally, comScore said, campaign audience reports through vCE will include reach and frequency, comprehensive demographics and behavioral segments only for people with valid exposure.
The verification of ad delivery and placement has long been a thorn in the side of online advertisers because of its complexity and inherently dynamic nature.
Last November the US Interactive Advertising Bureau issued a set of proposed industry guidelines for the conduct of verification systems and services, describing them as an “advanced framework” designed to ensure that a common set of methods and practices are used by various ad verification services.
All of which has nurtured the rise and rise of verification services, among them AdSafe and DoubleVerify, the latter raising $33 million in funding late in 2011. Last year, comScore acquired verification and optimization service firm AdXpose for $22 million in a stock-based deal.