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The Madison Avenue Field GuideA field guide to marketing & advertising, by Brandon Mina

GlossaryAdtech & ProgrammaticViewability

Adtech & Programmatic

Viewability

Whether an ad had a real chance to be seen; MRC standard is 50% of pixels for one second (display).

By Brandon MinaCEO, BrandPilot AIUpdated November 2026

Appears in Lesson 8 of Programmatic 101

Short answer

Viewability measures whether an ad had a real opportunity to be seen by a person. Under the Media Rating Council standard, a display ad counts as viewable when at least 50% of its pixels are on screen for one continuous second; for video, two continuous seconds. Advertisers use viewability to judge inventory quality and pricing.