Picnic Launches 'Quality Video' to Bring Transparency to Open-Web Video Buying

"Open-web video buying still relies on broad DSP classifications such as In-Stream and Out-Stream to signal quality. Yet, these labels only describe how a player appears at page load, not how it behaves once a user starts scrolling. Buyers can quickly end up paying premium CPMs without knowing whether a video remains visible or continues playing out of view."

"Picnic's analysis shows that 30% of video players collapse into smaller units during a user's time on site, and 15% continue playing after the user scrolls past them, raising questions about how completed views are interpreted and valued."

"Quality Video extends Picnic's PIQ (Picnic Inventory Quality) Platform to video, applying the same experience-led quality standards buyers already trust - now tailored specifically for video campaigns. Using a growing set of video-specific signals, Quality Video evaluates publisher pages based on factors including whether videos pause when scrolled out of view, whether multiple videos play simultaneously, whether playback is auto-initiated or user-dependent, and whether audio is muted or enabled by default."

Picnic has introduced Quality Video, a solution addressing limitations in current open-web video buying practices. Traditional DSP classifications like In-Stream and Out-Stream only describe how video players appear at page load, not their actual behavior as users scroll. Picnic's research reveals 30% of video players collapse into smaller units during user sessions, and 15% continue playing after users scroll past them. Quality Video evaluates impressions using video-specific signals including whether videos pause when scrolled out of view, whether multiple videos play simultaneously, playback initiation methods, and audio settings. These page-level signals integrate into Picnic's PIQ Platform, enabling buyers to identify inventory delivering genuine viewing opportunities and more accurate completed views.

Read at Exchangewire