Picnic launches inventory intelligence tool to drive a more user-friendly ad-funded web

Leading user-first media platform Picnic today announces the launch of PIQ (Picnic Inventory Quality), a first-of-its-kind inventory intelligence platform capable of assessing a webpage's suitability for effective ad delivery.

Initial tests have demonstrated that PIQ-passing domains achieve 88%* higher media attention versus non-passing domains. The tool can be leveraged to deliver creatives across sites which ensure a great user experience - in turn delivering high attention opportunities and improved brand outcomes.
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The end of clickbait?

Media quality has long been impeded by the prevalence of industry performance metrics, such as clicks and viewability, which incentivise low-quality industry practices, such as high ad density and intrusive ad formats. As a result, the ad-funded web is inundated with poor user experiences.

Recent research from Picnic/YouGov confirms intrusive and excessive ads can negatively  impact consumer perception of a brand and reduce the likelihood to purchase. Addressing this issue of wasteful - or even harmful - ad impressions, PIQ enables brands and agencies to make sure every ad impression counts.
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How does PIQ work?

PIQ analyses a webpage’s suitability based on a range of quality signals such as:

- Ad density: the percentage of a webpage taken up by ads
- Domain reputation: a measure of reputability and trust based on inputs such as the number of backlinks to a domain, and where they come from, as well as content and headline language analysis, determining factors such as clickbait content.
- Page performance: a set of performance metrics, powered by Google’s Core Web Vitals scoring, that evaluate the load speed and visual stability of a webpage.
- Processability: a measure of cognitive load - i.e. the amount of information contained within an image or frame, and the associated mental effort required to understand and engage with an ad - based on the complexity of content, design, and messaging.
- Attention: this includes both historical domain attention and placement level attention measurement - providing media attention opportunity, in addition to creative attention for maximum effectiveness.
- Emissions: Picnic’s marketplace is filtered for low-carbon-emitting pages, using an emissions threshold 20% lower than the Scope3 standards benchmark.

Commenting on the launch of PIQ, Matthew Goldhill, Founder & CEO, Picnic, says: “We believe that a focus on media quality is an important step to secure the future of the ad-funded web as an effective, more sustainable media channel. ‍

Goldhill continues: “The approach is two-pronged - measuring the quality of both the creative and the media. After all, investing in a great creative but delivering it on a poor-quality web page is akin to investing in the Mona Lisa and displaying it on a cluttered gallery wall in your living room. It may technically be viewable, but it’s not going to garner the same attention as it would in a prime spot at the Louvre.”‍
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Key benefits of PIQ

1) Inventory quality at scale: objective and measurable assessment using a combination of machine learning and human expertise, guaranteeing brand safety and unrivalled media quality at scale.
2) Genuine ad attention and improved outcomes: making every impression count by focusing on media attention - not just creative.
3) Enhanced targeting and control: greater user privacy and improved trust in programmatic decision-making
4) Deeper insights: granular understanding of the content and placements of media, alongside meaningful analytics that look beyond traditional metrics.
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*PIQ domains delivered an average AU score which was 88% greater than the non-PIQ domains, when testing two lines with identical targeting and creative.

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