In Q3, 52% of banner ads served in the UK met minimum viewability guidelines, a quarterly benchmark report from Meetrics has found.

The figure represents an increase from 51% the previous quarter, and the highest level since Q1 2016 ( 54%).

The previous quarter, the figure had risen from 47% to 51%.

Despite this increase, the UK still lags behind its European counterparts. According to Meetrics, the best-performing country for viewability is Italy, at 68%, closely followed by Austria ( 67%).

Anant Joshi, country manager for UK & Ireland at Meetrics, said that while small, the latest rise is “directionally significant".

“For the first time, there’s a consistent positive trend which is a sign that efforts to increase viewability are bearing fruit. A driving factor is that some agency groups are starting to demand a higher percentage of an ad’s surface area to be in view which is making the sell side improve the quality of their ad placements," he said.

Joshi added that the latest digital adspend figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC “suggest around £165m in the UK is being wasted per quarter on ads not meeting minimum viewability guidelines.”

Ads are deemed viewable if 50% of the ad is in view for at least one second, as recommended by the IAB and Media Ratings Council.