Dive Brief:
- A study of Association of National Advertisers (ANA) members found 97% believe all digital media owners’ ad inventory should face third-party measurement scrutiny.
- Sixty-percent reported a lack of third-party measurement would cause them to reallocate their ad spending budgets.
- Google recently added third-party measurement for YouTube ad products, and Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins believes third-party measurement will help improve revenue for streaming video services.
Dive Insight:
“During a time of intense scrutiny on transparency and accountability, it’s vitally important that all digital media owners measure viewability by an independent third party, consistent with industry standards. That’s just ‘table stakes’ for digital advertising,” Bob Liodice, ANA president and CEO, said in a statement.
Viewability is an issue for marketers, especially given the lack of standardized metrics across different digital platforms for what constitutes a viewed ad. From the results of the ANA member study, adding third-party measurement would go a long way in making marketers feel better about online advertising. In a sign that the lack of standard metrics is a concern, 90% of the survey respondents reported being not fully confident that their working media met the Media Ratings Council digital viewability requirements.
In the same statement, Bill Duggan, ANA group EVP, said, “Marketers should insist that digital media owners provide third-party verification to optimize accountability and cross-media comparability.” Adding, “The ANA will continue to urge marketers to demand greater transparency and accountability for their digital media investments and support accredited third-party verification.”