With the innate measurability of digital comes a new set of considerations on how to deliver and evaluate advertising activity. The Value of a Digital Ad is a collection of comScore research which demonstrates how clean impressions that are free from invalid traffic and fraud, as well as viewable by human audiences, are fundamental to success.

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How Validated Reach & Frequency Metrics Can Drive Campaign ROI

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Reach and frequency (R/F) have always been among the
most fundamental metrics in planning and evaluating
campaigns. Understanding how many people saw an ad
and how many times they saw it is critical for
advertisers seeking to influence consumers’ attitudes and
behaviors.
For years, digital advertisers have used gross measures of
reach and frequency to evaluate campaigns. This was
deemed adequate at the time, but today we can do better.
Through improved measurement, we can now quantify reach
and frequency in the context of impressions that actually had
a chance to make an impact – that is clean impressions
that are viewable and free from fraud.
Much of the recent industry discussion around viewability
and fraud has shed a negative light on the ecosystem –
often exposing waste and causing many to question the
value of a digital advertising. But there is an untold story
of upside when we consider the implications of better
measurement.
In this report, we illustrate how the fundamental principals of
reach and frequency – with an application of clean
impressions – provides a richer, more accurate view of
advertising effectiveness and ROI.
These insights aim to provide clarity in a sometimes messy
ecosystem so that advertisers can realize the
true value of a digital ad.
ABOUT

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CONTENTS
OVERVIEW
Reach, Frequency & Validation PAGE 5
THE VALUE OF VALIDATED REACH
Digital as a Reach Medium PAGE 9
Real Reach, Real Opportunity PAGE 11
THE VALUE OF VALIDATED FREQUENCY
The Frequency Opportunity PAGE 15
Viewability Multiplies Value PAGE 16
Too Much of a Good Thing? PAGE 19
The Frequency Balancing Act PAGE 20
CONCLUSION
Key Takeaways PAGE 23

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OVERVIEW
Campaign reach and frequency are essential
parts of digital campaigns, but validation is needed too.

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IMPRESSIONS
REACH(UNIQUEPEOPLE)
Reach and frequency are
advertising fundamentals
For marketers, R/F metrics answer two critical
questions about campaign delivery:
• How many people saw my ad?
• How many times?
Together, these metrics help media buyers
evaluate the impact of their advertising
investments – and compare relative
effectiveness across channels, such as TV,
desktop and mobile.
OVERVIEW
REACH, FREQUENCY & VALIDATION
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE OF CAMPAIGN REACH CURVES ACROSS PLATFORMS

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In digital, gross R/F
ignores the reality of
non-viewable and
fraudulent impressions
Unlike in other channels, digital campaigns
are subject to non-viewable and fraudulent
delivery, making gross measures of R/F
inadequate, and often misleading.
Advertisers need to ensure their
effectiveness measurement uses validated,
not gross, impressions. Failure to do so
leads to erroneous conclusions that
understate the impact of digital advertising.
48%
45%
7%
OVERVIEW
REACH, FREQUENCY & VALIDATION
Source: comScore vCE Insights, Desktop Display and Video Campaigns, U.S., Q4 2015
PERCENTAGE OF IMPRESSIONS BY VIEWABILITY / NON-VIEWABILITY
ViewableNon-Viewable
Human
Non-Viewable/
Invalid Traffic

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Validated R/F means
lower numbers but more
accurate insights and less
waste
By definition, the use of clean, validated
measurement results in lower reported reach
and frequency.
While this can cause concern for some, the
reality is there are several benefits of
capturing clean impressions:
• Ability to identify sources of wasted ad
spend and to optimize accordingly
• More accurate inputs into market mix
models for cross-media comparisons
• Truer evaluation of campaign
effectiveness and ROI
GROSS
VALIDATED
Identical point lift
/
Fewer impressions
=
More valuable
impressions
WASTED IMPRESSIONS
OVERVIEW
REACH, FREQUENCY & VALIDATION
IMPRESSIONS
REACH(UNIQUEPEOPLE)
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE OF IMPACT OF VALIDATION ON GROSS IMPRESSIONS

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DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT
Discover how Validated Reach
and Validated Frequency provide
clean impressions that enable a
richer, more accurate view of
advertising effectiveness and ROI.