Tokyo, Japan –11 May 2018 – Integral Ad Science (IAS), the measurement and analytics company that empowers the advertising industry, today announced that advertisers now have the option to pay for ads that only meet GroupM’s new global viewability standard for digital ads.

In this joint initiative GroupM’s standards will be for advertising trading. Advertisers can expect higher-quality branding effect while paying only for ad placements that meet GroupM’s standards. In addition, this new standard leverages IAS capabilities to blocks fraudulent impressions (ad fraud) and ensures brand safety (ad placement quality), enabling advertisers to protect their brands and budgets from diverse threats in digital ads.

“GroupM Japan has set its own standards for verifying advertising impact to help advertisers roll out safer and more secure digital campaigns”, said Taro Fujinaka, IAS, Representative Director of Japan. “Cooperation and collaboration between the demand side (advertisers) and supply side (media companies) is essential for the development of the digital ad market. We believe that this initiative by GroupM Japan and endorsed by Japanese media companies, will have a positive effect on the entire industry and provide trust and transparency to the digital industry”.

GroupM’s new viewability standard requires that 100 percent of a display ads area be in view for one second or longer. This is more demanding than the minimum standard specified by the Media Rating Council (MRC), which only requires that 50 percent of the ad area be in view for one second or longer.

“More and more advertisers in Japan are likely to urge that transparency and safety of digital ads be ensured”, said Naoyuki Aragaki, Chief Trading Officer, GroupM Japan. “We appreciate that IAS, and leading media companies, have endorsed and supported our mission as the world’s No. 1 media agency to provide advertisers with digital ads based on safe and adequate billing systems. We will further strengthen our initiatives.”

Taro Fujinaka, the Representative Director of Japan, IAS, said,  “This new service has been endorsed by Four leading media companies in Japan, The Asahi Shimbun, Nikkei Business Publications, and Toyo Keizai. Along with the launch of the service, we will start offering products based on VCPM (viewable cost per mille) that meet GroupM’s standards. IAS and GroupM Japan will further promote the healthy development of digital advertising market in Japan, seeking service endorsements by more media companies.”

This partnership has been widely covered and recognized by the key industry partners and trade press in Japan.

“It is true that performance KPIs such as CTR and CPA have been a main focus in Japan digital marketing industry for long. Now, as ad technology progresses rapidly, viewability can be fully measured so that publishers themselves providing its data would give great impact on Japan’s digital marketing.”  Nobuo Miyazaki, Director, New Business Incubation Office, Asahi Shimbun

“Nikkei Digital has been providing viewable ad inventories for non-first view ads. We strongly support GroupM’s direction of ‘high-value ads should be transacted at an appropriate price.”  Yasuhiro Kunitomo, Manager, Nikkei-ID and Advertising Unit, Nihon Keizai Shimbun

“Voices and needs for viewability impressions from global clients have rapidly increased so we decided to produce a new service in collaboration with IAS and GroupM.” Tomoyuki Onizawa, General Manager, Digital Marketing Group, Nikkei Business Publications, Inc

“Digital transparency is essential for trusted media. Through this partnership and project, we are committed to expanding our VCPM transactions and we hope that this movement will give good effects on the industry and digital advertising itself.” Tomohiro Sato, General Manager, Digital Advertising, Toyo Keizai Inc

About IAS
Integral Ad Science (IAS) is a global measurement and analytics company that builds verification, optimization, and analytics solutions to empower the advertising industry to invest with confidence and activate consumers everywhere, on every device. We solve the most pressing problems for brands, agencies, publishers, and technology companies by verifying that every impression has the opportunity to be effective, optimizing towards opportunities to consistently improve results, and analyzing digital’s impact on consumer actions. Built on data science and engineering, IAS is headquartered in New York with global operations in thirteen countries. Our growth and innovation have been recognized in Inc. 500, Crain’s Fast 50, Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies, and I-COM’s Smart Data Marketing Technology Company. Learn more at www.stagingias.wpengine.com.

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About GroupM
GroupM, a part of the global communications group WPP, is the world’s largest media investment management company. Serving as the parent company to Mindshare, Mediacom, Wavemaker, Essence, m/SIX, and the programmatic audience company Xaxis, GroupM handles the world’s largest media budgets amounting to more than 108 billion dollars every year. It provides its clients with high-quality service based on extensive insights in trading as well as data, technology, addressable TV, content, and sports. GroupM works closely with Kantar, the data investment management group of WPP. Together, GroupM and Kantar account for about 50% of WPP Group revenue of more than 19 billion dollars. GroupM offers an unrivaled level of service for clients, stakeholders, and all people. Discover more about GroupM at www.groupm.com.

Press Contact: Samantha.Kops@GroupM.com | +1 917.4213019