Advertisers on TripAdvisor now only pay for ads that are seen

Ad impression viewability has long been a subject of discussion, and a study by AdSafe Media estimates that half of ads bought directly on publisher sites and 60 per cent of ads on networks and exchanges are never seen by the intended user. Comscore and DG Mediamind have published studies on the topic that correlate increased ad viewability with higher conversion rates. 

"We really wanted a solution that would deliver measurable results for clients and we feel we've worked out the best solution," Cindy Tan, TripAdvisor's vice-president of display advertising sales for Asia-Pacific, told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

The technology was developed with a partner, but is proprietary to TripAdvisor. 

In 2012, TripAdvisor reported global revenues from display advertising of US$94.1 million, an increase of 10 per cent year on year. According to ComScore, the travel site reaches about 11 million users in Asia-Pacific. 

In the eight weeks since the feature soft-launched, the site's cleints have been reporting improved results in terms of click-through-rates (CTR) and thus, ROI. 

“It means that not only are our ads more trustworthy but the performance for the clients has also improved, Tan said. "CTR is up and we have also implemented a tracking technology for ‘viewability’, and that is showing that the ads below the fold are now just as valuable as those above. In fact the ones below are now producing a stronger viewability metric, compared to the 728x90 [ad unit] which is at the top of the page."

In terms of short-term impact to TripAdvisor's display ad revenue, Tan said that the launch was still too recent to comment. "I'm fairly confident though, that in the long-term this move will improve conversion rates and the overall experience with [TripAdvisor]."