Yahoo rolls out a new ad program, Prime View. Here's how it works

In the battle for online sales and marketing, Yahoo provided advertisers with a potent weapon today in the form of Yahoo Prime View.

Yahoo Prime View is a new way for advertisers to reach audiences and see a return on their advertising budget.

Much online advertising is based on CPM, or cost per thousand impressions. Unfortunately, this model doesn’t always deliver the best results for advertisers. Since it’s based on impressions, not actual views, an advertiser may be paying for an ad the end user doesn’t even see, such as one that loads offscreen.

In contrast, Yahoo’s Prime View is based on vCPM, or viewable impressions. Yahoo’s goal is to provide a way for brands and advertisers to “display ad campaigns at a 100 percent viewability rate.” The company assures advertisers that they will only pay for viewable impressions.

Yahoo touts itself as the largest publisher to date to adopt vCPM, using “a methodology accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC).” This “methodology is based on a new MRC accreditation that is aligned with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard for display ad viewability measurement.”

Thanks to Prime View, Yahoo says advertisers will see more exposure for their ads, without any changes to their workflow or reporting. Yahoo Prime View is immediately available for display ads on Yahoo properties in the U.S., with plans to roll out the new product globally.