AAM Launches Digital Publisher Audit Program with ANA Support

New Program Designed to Reduce Ad Fraud Will be Free to Publishers Through End of 2021

The Alliance for Audited Media today launched a new, independent, third-party audit program for digital publishers as a key step in the evolving fight against digital advertising fraud.

Called the AAM Digital Publisher Audit, the initiative focuses on verifying publishers’ traffic sources by analyzing their business operations, traffic sourcing policies and monitoring website traffic.

Recognizing that publisher audits are a key step in the evolving fight against digital advertising fraud, the Association of National Advertisers actively supported the effort by encouraging collaboration between the AAM, Media Rating Council and the Trustworthy Accountability Group to align their anti-fraud programs to create a complementary set of assurance solutions.

AAM CEO Tom Drouillard said the new program will be available free of charge to AAM’s publisher members through the end of 2021 in order to quickly grow the universe of audited digital media inventory.

“AAM Digital Publisher Audits are unique because they differentiate quality publishers and give marketers a common signal to evaluate those publishers,” said Drouillard. “As a not-for-profit organization, we want to ensure that cost is not a barrier for widespread publisher adoption to maximize this opportunity for marketers.”

AAM provides marketers assurance that the audited sites they invest in are legitimately delivering human audiences. The AAM audit aligns with MRC and TAG programs, as it requires large publishers to use technology vendors accredited by the MRC for sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) detection. Publishers that successfully complete the audit may also earn independent validation for TAG’s Certified Against Fraud program.

“The marketing industry has made significant progress in bringing transparency and accountability to digital media buying, but the war on ad fraud continues,” said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. “We need a set of comprehensive solutions, and the AAM Digital Publisher Audit is a major step toward providing assurances at the publisher level.”

AAM developed the audit with the support of more than 100 websites from nine major publishing companies in the U.S. and Canada. Among the properties participating in the development of the audit are Meredith Corporation, American City Business Journals and The Globe and Mail. A list of participating media properties and additional details about the Digital Publisher Audit are available on AAM’s website.

“Marketers now have a new tool to improve their performance by concentrating their investments in quality audited sites,” said Drouillard. “The program generates trust between marketers, agencies and publishers through independent audits.”

Audited publishers are included on the AAM Audited Domain List, which can be used to build inclusion lists and prioritize publishers in DSPs. Additionally, AAM is working with the IAB Tech Lab to distribute the AAM list via its compliance registry, which will enable bidding on AAM-audited domains.

ABOUT AAM

The Alliance for Audited Media powers transparency and collaboration between North America’s leading media professionals. AAM is the industry’s recognized leader in cross-media verification with unparalleled expertise across all brand platforms including web, mobile, email and print. More than 4,000 publishers, advertisers, agencies and technology vendors depend on AAM’s data-driven insights, technology certification audits and information services to transact with trust. To learn how AAM brings trust and transparency to today’s media ecosystem, visit auditedmedia.com.

ABOUT THE ANA

The ANA’s (Association of National Advertisers) mission is to drive growth for marketing professionals, brands and businesses, the industry, and humanity. The ANA serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

AAM
Susan Kantor
Vice President, Marketing
Phone: 224-366-6432

ANA
John Wolfe
Director of Communications
Cell: 914.659.8663