ANA Calls on Amazon, Twitter, Others to Allow MRC Audits

Advertisers representing a quarter trillion dollars in advertising and marketing spending want so-called "walled garden" digital ad platforms to allow for independent audits by the Media Rating Council, which was established by Congress to monitor ratings services.

The Association of National Advertisers Friday called on edge-provider powerhouses including Amazon, Foursquare, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Twitter to "embrace transparency" and "break down" those walled gardens.

That comes after Facebook and YouTube announced they would allow for independent MRC audits and after ANA polled its members and found that 89% say the development is either very or moderately positive.

"In an era of concerns about transparency in the advertising supply chain, independent audits of the large digital enterprises by the MRC are very positive developments. Furthermore, it’s clear from the ANA survey that there is overwhelming support from client-side marketers for independent audits by the Media Rating Council," ANA said Friday (March 17).

Among the reasons members cited for wanting those walls to come down:

• “The more transparency we have from vendors on data and performance, the greater advertisers

can trust the platform.”

• “So metrics can be validated by a third party and aren’t only self-reported.”

• “Can compare within the wall to outside it.”

• “To develop holistic plans that cross multiple platforms, it’s critical that we have some level of consistency in metrics.”