In the past, media buying was mostly a matter of trial and error to establish the best traffic sources through a protracted campaign period and process of elimination methods. Now, many savvy media buyers are learning to use tracking tools and user metrics to put proactive protocols in place that substantially shorten the learning curve and lead to better results long term as well.

In a recent XBIZ article, Grand Slam Media lead developer Ian Lester explained the importance of new network metrics and tracking tools like CPMv. The article is definitely worth reading, and as a synopsis it explains how some ad networks like Grand Slam Media have taken important steps to ensure your ad creatives are visible to the audience you are seeking to attract, while other networks continue to use antiquated technologies that all too often result in page impressions with little or zero chance of generating a high CTR because the ads are all too often outside the view of the targeted page user.

CPMv technology ensures that your ads are in the visible space of a site and “weeds out a lot of the publishers that are just stuffing ads below the fold, that no one will ever see” according to Grand Slam Media’s General Manager. “It’s one more way to help ensure you’re getting what you’re paying for every time.”

While one may correctly argue that what matters most is the money each ad makes for you, which is easily trackable in Dollars or Euros, the key here is to keep in mind that monetary metrics are only available after you have committed your resources to a campaign and tracked all of the results. That’s much more in line with the old thinking of buying traffic to see what works and then scaling your future ad buys to amplify the best of your past purchases. Instead, a new paradigm shift is taking place right now, where smart media buyers are doing all they can in preparation or ad buys to ensure each test run is seen by the maximum number of users and that means more than getting the most impressions, it means using technologies like CMPv to get the most actual eyes on each ad so you can accelerate your tracking and gain profitability faster than ever before on each new campaign.