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Digital Technology Transparency

Cross-industry bodies partner to clean up digital ad supply chain in UK and US

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By Rebecca Stewart | Trends Editor

March 9, 2017 | 3 min read

The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), a US-based industry body is to work together with UK assosciation the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS) to "clean up the digital advertising supply chain".

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Cross-industry bodies announce collaboration to 'clean up digital advertising supply chain' in UK and US

The collaboration will build on existing efforts to promote brand safety and buying transparency. The pair will seek to tackle ad fraud as well as focusing on criminal activity like ad-funded piracy and malware.

The move is the latest in an effort by industry bodies to improve the effectiveness of the digital ecosystem. In January, Procter and Gamble's chief brand officer Marc Pritchard brought the transparency debate to a head with a speech in which laid into Google and Facebook’s ‘walled gardens’ and demanded greater clarity from suppliers.

"We’ve come to our senses and realised there is no sustainable advantage in a complicated, non-transparent, inefficient and fraudulent media supply chain," he said at the time, adding that the brand, one of the world's biggest advertisers, would be reviewing all agency contracts in 2017.

TAG was established by US bodies, the IAB, the Association of National Advertiser and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (ANA), its primary focus is to fight ad-supported online piracy, combat malware, eliminate fraud and promote brand safety. JICWEBS is a UK cross-industry body which is responsible for developing standards for online ad trading, members include the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA).

The duo says its aim is to transfer learnings between their "slightly different but complementary" initiatives to improve effectiveness and create a consistent approach across markets. The pair claim that the digital advertising industry has been estimated to gain $8.2bn by eliminating fraud and flaws US digital supply chain alone, figures which come from an IAB and EY study.

Mike Zaneis, president and chef executive at TAG said the message from advertisers "is clear," and that they're calling for "a consistent and joined up approach across markets."

Facebook, which last year admitted to overstating video metrics by as much as 80% over a three-year period has been expanding its third-party measurement deals over the past few months, as has Google, which recently opened YouTube up to a Media Ratings Council audit.

Digital Technology Transparency

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