The global digital advertising ecosystem is becoming cleaner and more viewable, but earning consumer attention remains far from uniform across regions, devices and industry sectors, according to the latest Quarterly Quality and Attention Benchmarks from DoubleVerify.
The Q1 2026 report points to broad improvements in media quality, with global authentic viewability rising and violation rates linked to fraud, brand suitability and video filtering declining. However, the findings also reveal a more complex attention economy, where an ad’s opportunity to be seen does not necessarily translate into meaningful consumer engagement.
Authentic viewability rises to 74% as fraud violations decline
Globally, the Authentic Viewable Rate reached 74% in Q1 2026, marking a 3% increase over the corresponding quarter last year. DoubleVerify defines an authentic viewable impression as one that has the opportunity to be seen in a brand-suitable, fraud-free environment and is served within the advertiser’s intended geography.
Several media quality indicators also moved in a positive direction. The global Block Rate stood at 3.5%, down 8% from Q1 2025, while Fraud and Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT) violations fell 24% to 0.5%. Brand Suitability violations declined 9% to 4.3%, and the Video Filter Rate dropped 24% to 4.6%.
One metric, however, moved against the broader trend. Out-of-Geo violations rose 12% year-on-year to 1.2%, indicating that delivering ads within advertisers’ intended geographic markets remains a challenge despite improvements elsewhere in the media quality chain.
Mobile apps lead display viewability; desktop wins in video
The benchmark data underlines the extent to which media quality varies by device.
For display advertising, mobile apps recorded the highest viewability rate at 82%, compared with 75% for desktop and 65% for mobile web. The pattern changed for video, where desktop led with an 85% viewability rate, followed by mobile web at 80% and mobile apps at 77%.
The regional picture was equally varied. North America posted the highest Authentic Viewable Rate at 76%, marginally ahead of LATAM at 75%. EMEA recorded 68%, while APAC trailed at 63%.
APAC also recorded the highest Brand Suitability Violation Rate at 8%, compared with 6.3% in EMEA, 6% in LATAM and 3.7% in North America. Yet APAC and EMEA performed marginally better on fraud, each recording a Fraud/SIVT Violation Rate of 0.4%, against 0.5% in LATAM and North America.
The data suggests that there is no single global hierarchy of media quality. Markets that perform strongly on viewability may not necessarily lead on fraud or brand suitability, reinforcing the need for advertisers to assess quality across multiple indicators rather than rely on a single campaign metric.
Video ads are being completed, but are they being heard?
The report’s video benchmarks, which exclude Connected TV, expose a significant gap between completion and deeper attention.
Globally, the Video Completion Rate stood at 69%. However, only 17% of measurable impressions had audio turned on at any point. The Audible and In-View on Completion rate — which measures impressions that were both audible and at least 50% in view when the video finished — was lower still, at 11%.
The difference becomes more pronounced across devices. Mobile apps recorded a global Audible and In-View on Completion rate of 29%, compared with 7% for desktop and just 4% for mobile web.
APAC’s mobile app environment was the standout performer, registering an AVOC rate of 51%. EMEA followed at 35%, while North America recorded 20% and LATAM 13%.
This creates an important distinction for video advertisers: a completed video is not necessarily an attended video. Completion rates may indicate that an ad technically played through, but audibility and in-view completion offer a more demanding measure of whether the consumer had a genuine opportunity to absorb the message.
The attention economy has different regional leaders
The second half of the report shifts the focus from media quality to attention.
DoubleVerify’s Authentic Attention framework aggregates more than 50 data points to assess how an ad is presented and how consumers engage with it. Its Attention Index is normalised to 100, representing the average across the company’s measurement ecosystem.
On this measure, EMEA emerged as the strongest-performing region with an Attention Index of 110, narrowly ahead of APAC at 109. LATAM scored 101, while North America came in slightly below the benchmark at 99.
But the overall scores conceal significant differences between exposure and engagement.
APAC recorded the highest Exposure Index at 112, followed by LATAM at 106 and EMEA at 104. North America scored 98. In contrast, EMEA dominated the Engagement Index with a score of 116, ahead of APAC at 107, North America at 99 and LATAM at 96.
The distinction is significant. APAC appears particularly effective at giving ads a strong visual opportunity to command attention, while EMEA performs better at generating active consumer engagement. In other words, one region leads in getting ads noticed; the other leads in what users do while those ads are on screen.
APAC dominates ad prominence; EMEA leads direct interaction
A deeper breakdown of attention metrics strengthens this regional contrast.
APAC recorded a Prominence Index of 153, far ahead of EMEA at 125, LATAM at 115 and North America at 82. Prominence measures the viewable pixels occupied by an ad relative to the overall screen space of the device.
EMEA, however, recorded the highest Ad Interaction Index at 139, compared with APAC at 109, North America at 99 and LATAM at 84. EMEA also led the User Presence Index at 112, suggesting stronger indications that users were actually present when ads were viewable.
The device and format data adds another layer. EMEA’s in-app video recorded an Attention Index of 130, while North America’s in-app video reached 128. APAC desktop video scored 115. LATAM, meanwhile, performed strongly in in-app video at 112 but saw mobile web video fall to 84.
For media planners, the implication is that “region” alone is too broad a lens for attention optimisation. The combination of geography, device and format can materially alter campaign performance.
Technology and energy lead the attention race
Attention also varies sharply by advertising category.
Technology and Energy & Utilities emerged as the top-performing verticals, each posting an Attention Index of 107. Retail, Home & Fashion followed closely at 106.
At the lower end of the benchmark, Automotive scored 97, Travel 96 and Telecom 90.
The 17-point difference between the strongest and weakest verticals highlights the role played by category, creative presentation and media environment in shaping attention outcomes. It also suggests that universal attention benchmarks may have limited value unless advertisers contextualise performance against their own sector.
From viewability to attention: the next measurement challenge
The Q1 2026 benchmarks point to a broader shift underway in digital advertising measurement.
For years, the industry’s focus has centred on whether an impression was delivered to a real person, appeared in a suitable environment and met accepted viewability thresholds. Those remain essential foundations. But the DoubleVerify data shows why they may no longer be sufficient as standalone indicators of advertising effectiveness.
An ad can be fraud-free and viewable without being prominent. A video can reach completion without being heard. An impression can achieve strong exposure without prompting interaction. And a region can lag on traditional viewability while outperforming on attention.
The emerging challenge for advertisers, therefore, is not simply to maximise the number of impressions that qualify as viewable, but to understand the quality of the attention those impressions generate.
For APAC marketers, the findings are particularly striking. The region trails global leaders on authentic viewability and carries the highest brand suitability violation rate, yet simultaneously ranks among the strongest markets for overall attention and leads decisively in ad prominence.
That paradox may represent one of the report’s most important findings: the next phase of digital media optimisation will require advertisers to improve media quality without losing the environments, formats and experiences that are already proving effective at capturing consumer attention.
