Proposed Definition of an Ad Viewthrough

Viewthrough (view-through) is a measure of the passive but self-directed response from paid media (banner, rich media, video or audio). For starters:

• Scope
• Post-impression viewthrough follows from one or more ad exposures where there was no click event
• Although the focus here is on display media, viewthrough or passive response could come from email, affiliate advertising, online PR and "dark" social media
• Apart from Google's self-serving studies, no independent research validates the notion of a paid search viewthrough
• Relation to Clickthrough
• Distinguished from post-click visitation or conversion
• Measurement
• Can be a success metric like a conversion, high-value task or a site visit
• Can be measured by a brand on its' own Web properties through site analytics
• Can be measured more broadly (competitor/peer site visitation, search, etc...) through panel-based research
• May be subject to attribution rules, such as first touch, last touch, equal touch or staistically derived techniques
• Time
  • Is subject to a lookback and lookahead window that is configured by the ad server
• Viewthrough impact decays over time from the initial ad exposure
• Calculation
• The VTR (viewthrough rate) is calculated as # of viewthrough / # of impressions (viewed impressions preferably)
• Impressions should be based on "viewed" or "viewable" for most accurate measurement
• In-flight viewthrough are observed during a live ad campaign, while the post-flight viewthrough "vapor-trail" can be observed when the campaign ends or is paused

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