TripAdvisor claims online ad first for industry

TripAdvisor is claiming a first for the travel advertising industry by launching a ‘Delayed Ad Call’.

TripAdvisor is claiming a first for the travel advertising industry by launching a ‘Delayed Ad Call’.

This means advertisers will only pay for advertising that is seen by a user on the site.

It works by only making the ad call once a user gets to a point on the TripAdvisor page where the advert is in view.

The travel reviews site argues that most online publishers provide a “very disparate environment” with many ad placements per page which are often multiple times below the fold, in positions that users never actually see.

A study by AdSafe Media found that half of ads bought directly on publisher sites were never seen by the user, according to TripAdvisor.

A Comscore study found a strong correlation between time-in-view and conversion, meaning that ads in view longer perform much better.

TripAdvisor global display sales vice president Martin Verdon-Roe said: “Our clients are always looking for measurable results and confidence in the media they are buying, whether that be for a branding or a ROI campaign.

“With our delayed ad call in place advertisers can now be fully confident that the results that they are measuring on TripAdvisor are a real and true representation of their media investment.”

An Internet Advertising Bureau UK spokesman said: “The IAB (UK) has formed a cross-industry group of experts from the buy and sell-side to review viewable impressions and discuss and surface the opportunities and challenges of such a move.

“TripAdvisor’s proactive move to counting an impression only when the ad comes into view is a bold market-leading position in advance of industry consensus in the UK.”