Rocket Fuel (FUEL), a leading Programmatic Marketing Platform provider, today announced it will be the first DSP to offer IAS Enhanced Video Quality Metrics as part of an integrated solution for brand advertisers. With this industry-leading partnership, Rocket Fuel and IAS are able to provide marketers with an unprecedented level of transparency and quality protection across video ads purchased programmatically.

According to eMarketer, US programmatic digital video ad spend will account for more than $7 billion USD, or 65 percent, of total US digital video ad spend by 2017. While this market represents a great opportunity for advertisers, not all video ad impressions are created equal. In-stream (pre-roll) video ads deliver a more engaging, impactful user experience when compared to in-banner ads, but unfortunately, a significant portion of video ad inventory that’s available on the open exchange appears in-banner, without content following the ad. Rocket Fuel’s partnership with IAS removes the guesswork behind identifying quality video ad inventory, making it easier for marketers to know whether they’re running video ads in-stream or in-banner, directly impacting brand awareness and campaign ROI.

“Our Enhanced Video Quality Metrics provide Rocket Fuel with data that goes beyond what’s available at the exchange-level by going directly to the site to verify whether the video inventory on that page appears in-stream or in-banner,” said Kevin Lenane, GM of Video at IAS. “This level of verification reduces ad placement fraud and gives marketers access to the quality inventory they deserve to run engaging, impactful campaigns.”

“While fraud and non-human traffic in the digital space continues to get more sophisticated, media buyers’ responsibilities grow,” said Megan Davey, associate channel director at VML, a global marketing agency who has worked with Rocket Fuel since 2010. “Through Rocket Fuel’s partnership with IAS, the added layers of partners and costs are removed, allowing us to leverage the benefits of programmatic scale and targeting without a lot of the risks and roadblocks. Now our clients can rest assured they are receiving relevant, targeted brand experiences through verified pre-roll ads, allowing us to focus on telling the engaging video stories that are most important to our clients.”

“Agencies and their clients want to know their brand video spend is reaching receptive audiences at the right time, in high-quality, viewable pre-roll inventory,” said Simon Hayhurst, SVP of product and business development at Rocket Fuel. “With our IAS partnership, we are the first to have an integrated solution that enhances ad placement. Improved ad placement, combined with our Moment Scoring technology, predicts the brand potential of every moment and enables transparent brand campaigns that are not just delivered, but optimized, to increase brand engagement and awareness.”

This solution is the first of its kind and will be available for Rocket Fuel managed service customers early next month.