New IAS tool aims to link verification and performance

Integral Ad Science (IAS) has launched a service in Japan that aims to connect ad verification and ROI metrics.

The service, called Online Conversion Lift, aims to cut out metrics from fraudulent or non-viewed ad impressions to focus on the level of exposure of a campaign, linking that to conversion rates. IAS said Nestlé is one advertiser using it.

IAS said that as well as linking viewability to conversion, the service helps advertisers optimise current campaigns and future media buying strategies. In a statement, Shintaro Muraoka, media communication manager at Nestlé, said the company had been monitoring viewability and ad fraud since 2016, but had struggled to connect those metrics to campaign results. He said the scenario had improved through using IAS’s tool.

Asked to clarify how the service connects viewability to conversion rates, Margaret Hung, VP of project management, said it relies on cookies “to determine consumer exposure and online conversion behaviour”.

She noted that it is best suited to performance-based campaigns with specific goals, such as visits to a landing page, clicks on a purchase button, product searches or purchase confirmations. “Branding campaigns are best measured through surveys to understand brand attitudes,” she said.

In an outlook that Campaign published in January, Taro Fujinaka, managing director of IAS in Japan, said he feared digital budgets would shrink if advertisers did not evolve their KPIs and media buying practices. He said he hoped to see a move from using ad verification "for defensive purposes" to something more focused on ROI.