With the quality of view‑based tracking steadily declining, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to run effective display, video, and native campaigns. Now that it’s no longer possible to measure view‑attributed sales, marketers need to rethink their approach. Currently, the focus is mainly on clicks, but this overlooks the other 99% of impressions that don’t result in a click. Some advertisers are already addressing this by using attention‑measurement tools such as DoubleVerify, MOAT or GumGum.However, the majority still doesn’t. As the quality of each individual impression becomes increasingly important, DV360 has introduced a significant change. It now allows you to create custom algorithms that also take the value of an impression into account, all without relying on third‑party cookies. In this blog, we’ll explore the possibilities this brings.

Phases & Metrics

There are various metrics and phases you can build a custom algorithm around, from sales metrics such as conversions or Q‑Visits (a quality click) to other metrics tailored to specific time windows, post‑click, or view‑through attribution. By assigning a value to each conversion action within the custom algorithm, you can guide it to optimize exactly as you intend.

It’s also possible to evaluate clicks and assign a value to them. However, we generally advise against this, as a click with no further value doesn’t tell you much.

Finally, you have a range of awareness metrics you can optimize for, one of the biggest improvements over the old custom models. In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at the different metrics and highlight the most important ones.

Viewable Impressions

A simple example of value assignment is the viewability metric. By focusing on viewable impressions, you can guide the algorithm. This approach is fairly similar to the standard viewable algorithm, and it only becomes truly valuable when combined with other metrics.

Time in View

The next variant is far more interesting. By assigning a value to the number of seconds a banner is in view, you can optimize for longer time‑in‑view, a feature not available in the standard algorithms. At Draft Digital, we recommend setting a maximum value, as some sites naturally have long view times that aren’t necessarily high‑quality. A good example is Nederland.FM, an online radio station that often plays in the background. While DV360 will register the banner as in‑view for a long time, this doesn’t always mean it delivers valuable attention.

Completed Views

It’s also possible to incorporate completed views, although this is already available within DV360’s standard algorithms. However, combining this metric can be especially valuable when it comes to video campaigns.

Audibility

This metric is often overlooked in video campaigns, yet it’s incredibly important. Without sound, a video can’t be truly heard, and most advertisers create their videos with audio in mind. This issue is especially common with outstream placements, where sound is typically turned off. Since outstream ads tend to be cheaper than instream placements, standard algorithms often allocate a large portion of the budget to these slots. By adding audibility as a metric and assigning a value to it within your algorithm, you can deliver more impactful results.

Screen Size

This metric is also a strong addition to video campaigns. In programmatic advertising, there’s a lot of inventory that doesn’t deliver quality results, and it’s common to see “instream” video positions sold where the consumer’s attention doesn’t actually land. For example, placements that are technically in‑view, but positioned where the viewer is unlikely to look.

Fold Position

In programmatic advertising, performance can vary greatly depending on whether a banner is placed above or below the fold. Until now, this was only available as a reporting metric, allowing you to include or exclude certain positions in campaigns. By adding this to a custom bidding algorithm, you can gain more control and optimize specifically for above‑the‑fold placements.

Device

Especially with video campaigns, we see that the device used can have a significant impact. Many advertisers now adopt a Connected TV strategy. By adding device targeting to the custom bidding algorithm, you can optimize more precisely for the devices that matter most.

Scoring vs. Multiplier

The advantage of the custom algorithm tool is that it gives you different ways to assign value to impressions. For the most common metrics, you can only apply a score, but for fold positions, you can also add a multiplier. This is especially important for advertisers who want to secure top‑of‑page positions. By applying a multiplier, you can exert more precise control over these high‑value placements.

Usability

The DV360 Custom Bidding model is a highly practical way to optimize for awareness KPIs. Through experiments in DV360, it’s possible to test this approach effectively against standard models. However, you’re still limited to the metrics and KPIs available within DV360 itself. To truly optimize for attention value, third‑party tools such as DoubleVerify, MOAT or Lumen are required.

Summary

The use of custom algorithms within DV360 provides a valuable and practical way to improve the effectiveness of display, video, and native campaigns, especially now that traditional tracking methods are under pressure. By integrating metrics such as viewability, time in view, audibility, and fold position, advertisers can optimize more precisely for the quality of their impressions. While this approach delivers significant benefits, it’s important to acknowledge the limitations of DV360 and, when needed, complement it with third‑party tools such as DoubleVerify, MOAT, or Lumen to enable more in‑depth attention measurement. At Draft Digital, we believe in the power of tailored solutions and continuous optimization, helping us grow together and deliver outstanding results. If you’d like to learn more, feel free to get in touch with us via this (link).