Google opens up YouTube ad inventory for audit

Google has agreed to open up its YouTube ad inventory and ad buying platforms for audit by the Media Rating’s Council.According to a blog post by Google, since 2015, it has completed integrations with Moat, Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify to enable third-party viewability reporting on YouTube. Now, each of these integrations will undergo a stringent, independent audit for MRC accreditation.The audit will validate that data collection, aggregation and reporting for served video impressions, viewable impressions, related viewability statistics and General Invalid Traffic (GIVT) across desktop and mobile for each integration adheres to MRC and IAB standards.“Transparency and trust are fundamental to measurement, and they’re fundamental to our strategy for giving marketers and publishers the metrics and insights they need to make better decisions. A solid foundation has been created, but there is much more work to do. In 2017, we’ll continue to seek ways to raise the bar on transparent and trustworthy measurement, and we welcome your partnership along the way,” said Babak Pahlavan, senior director of product management, Analytics Solutions and Measurement, Google"In short, advertisers will have even greater confidence in the metrics returned by these third party partners about their campaigns on YouTube," he added.“Google’s announcement to bring more media transparency is important progress that will help move the industry forward. At P&G, we are encouraged by Google’s actions, which should make a positive impact on creating a clean and productive media supply chain,” said Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer, Procter & Gamble.Pritchard most recently announced that P&G will be reviewing all of its agency contracts this year in a bid to drive a more cleaner media supply chain and transparent digital measurement. Currently, he calls the state of the media supply chain “murky at best” and “fraudulent at worst”. He is as such, demanding for better advertising to drive growth. This he said, will happen only if enabled by media transparency to drive a “clean and productive” media supply chain.Bob Liodice, president and CEO, Association for National Advertisers in the US also added that Google’s announcement that they are undertaking an independent audit of their third party viewability reporting integrations is a positive step forward for marketers.“At the ANA, our goal is to create transparency for the advertising supply chain. This action from Google today demonstrates their commitment to partnering with us to deliver this goal,” he said.Last year Liodice called out Facebook on its lack of transparency and went on to point out that with more than US$6 billion of marketers’ media being directed to Facebook, it is time for the social media giant – and other such major media players – to be audited and accredited.(Photo courtesy: 123RF)