WebSpectator Receives Media Rating Council Accreditation for its "Guaranteed Time Slot" Advertising Viewability Metric

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- WebSpectator, the world's only real-time mobile and web advertising metric, ad server and ad exchange, announced today that it has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for the core "Guaranteed Time Slot" (GTS) online display advertising viewability metrics in its WebSpectator for Publishers product. Specifically, in addition to its Viewable Impression statistics, the Total GTS, Premium GTS, and GTS by Ad Zone metrics in WebSpectator for Publishers are now MRC accredited.

The MRC, a nonprofit industry group that audits and accredits measurement services, seeks to secure for the media industry and related users audience measurement services are valid, reliable, and effective, certifies that WebSpectator complies with MRC's Minimum Standards for Media Ratings Research, as well as applicable industry measurement standards for Internet Services, for measuring the viewability of individual display ad impressions.

WebSpectator for Publisher's "Guaranteed Time Slot" (GTS), is the first online display advertising measurement system accredited by the MRC that provides an efficient time-based advertising metric that measures and monetizes effective time users spend viewing ads.

"This is a significant achievement for WebSpectator and the industry as a whole. WebSpectator accreditation introduces time as a new dimension for digital media, and also a rare value proposition that benefits both publishers and advertisers," says Andre Parreira CEO of WebSpectator. "For publishers, WebSpectator is an agnostic network that increases inventory and revenue from a new premium and verified ad product, offering plug and play monetization of an untapped asset they already own: time. This gives advertisers an increased incentive to shift TV ad dollars to digital with WebSpectator, now that they can track and understand the effectiveness of their branding efforts with important target audiences."

"The MRC applauds WebSpectator for successfully completing the accreditation process for the core Guaranteed Time Slot display advertising viewability metrics in WebSpectator for Publishers," said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. "WebSpectator for Publishers' GTS is an innovative measurement approach, and MRC accreditation indicates that it complies with MRC Standards, a recognized benchmark for quality and disclosure."

According to WebSpectator, the MRC accreditation is great news for publishers. By adding just one line of code to their existing ad server, they become WebSpectator enabled publishers with the ability to trade on the new accredited GTS metric, the only metric that effectively measures and monetizes ad exposure time.

WebSpectator believes marketers now have a trusted metric they needed to prove the real value of digital brand advertising, by providing the "target, reach and frequency" information they use to plan and negotiate online advertising.

WebSpectator is also announcing the launch of its free analytics tool for publishers by which they can unleash the potential of the new metric, Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS), realizing what the opportunity for viewable impressions means for their properties.

For more information on WebSpectator, please visit: http://www.webspectator.com

About WebSpectator

WebSpectator is the world's only real-time mobile and web advertising metric, ad server and ad exchange that measures the actual time spent viewing ads, videos and/or any media component. The company's new industry metric, Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS), is available through the company's free analytics tool that helps publishers improve revenues and advertisers achieve better engagement and ROI with new metrics, analytics and business insights for ad exposure time, facetime and viewability. WebSpectator technology was named a "Cool Vendor" for Media in Gartner's Cool Vendors 2012 report. WebSpectator is compatible with all industry standards and platform apps. If you would like to learn more about the company, please visit www.webspectator.com, on Twitter at @webspec, or via LinkedIn.

About MRC

The Media Rating Council is a nonprofit industry association established in 1964 comprised of leading television, radio, print and Internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research as well as other applicable industry measurement guidelines; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 90 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.

SOURCE WebSpectator