How Ad Platforms are Responding to Transparency Concerns
Transparency has become a major concern for the digital advertising industry.
In fact, according to the World Federation of Advertisers, transparency is the number one priority for 47 percent of brands.1
There is an array of transparency concerns in the industry, including ads that are difficult to view due to the location on a webpage, ads that appear next to objectionable content, and ads that are paid for but never seen by actual users.
Here’s how major platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as premium publishers, are responding to industry transparency concerns.
Facebook
In October, Facebook announced that it will remove dark posts – ads that target a specific user base but don’t appear on a brand’s Facebook profile page. In other words, all active ads will soon be visible to everyone.2
This initiative came after it was determined that Russian operatives purchased questionable political ads on the platform and strategically leveraged its targeting system in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.3
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In a blog post on Facebook’s new policy, Rob Goldman, Facebook’s VP of ads said, “When it comes to advertising on Facebook, people should be able to tell who the advertiser is and see the ads they’re running, especially for political ads.”4
Additionally, the social media behemoth will make political ad targeting, spend and impression data available to the public across both historic and active ads.5
This shift towards a more transparent advertising environment means that Facebook advertising will no longer be a “black box.” Accordingly, marketers will gain insight and visibility into their rivals’ marketing efforts.6
“I think brands and agencies will likely use this feature to understand what the competition is doing,” said Jill Sherman, head of social media at DigitasLBi.7
Facebook has indicated that the new transparency policies will likely be in full effect by the 2018 midterm elections.8
Twitter
To similarly quell transparency concerns, Twitter recently announced that it will open an Advertising Transparency Center.9
In a blog post, Bruce Falck, the company’s general manager for revenue product, wrote, “In the coming weeks, we will launch an industry-leading transparency center that will offer everyone visibility into who is advertising on Twitter, details behind those ads, and tools to share your feedback with us.”10
Twitter’s Advertising Transparency Center will offer transparency into the platform’s advertising ecosystem by showing all ads running on Twitter at a given time, how long those ads have been running and personalized information on which ads a given user is eligible to see based on targeting.11
In addition, users will be able to give feedback and report inappropriate ads regardless of whether an ad is targeting a particular user. This will help the platform remove inappropriate ads and better target individuals.12
Like Facebook, Twitter’s new policies will allow marketers to better track their competitors’ marketing efforts. In addition, the new policies highlight the platform’s resolve to improve accountability and keep up with evolving transparency standards.13
Google
Google has taken a slightly different approach to ad transparency concerns, working with a variety of third-party partners to ensure ad transparency.14
For example, the company works with the Media Rating Council (MRC) – a nonprofit that manages accreditation for media research and rating purposes – to accredit itself and set guidelines to measure ad effectiveness, in addition to ad tech companies like Moat, Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify to measure ad viewability on YouTube.15 16
The industry is certainly taking notice.
“Google’s announcement to bring more media transparency is important progress that will help move the industry forward,” said Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble. “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.”17
Publishers’ Response
Premium publishers have, to a large degree, taken a similar approach to Google – namely, using third-party partners to improve measurement and transparency standards.18
In early 2017, Proctor & Gamble’s chief brand officer, Marc Pritchard, demanded that publishers accept higher measurement and transparency standards.19
At an IAB event in Hollywood, Fl., Pritchard said, “At P&G, we’re expecting every media supplier – including publishers and measurement vendors – to adopt MRC-accredited third-party verification during 2017.”20
In response, Digital Content Next (DCN), an organization that includes members from 80 top publishing companies, said, “[We] know first-hand that both brand value and trust are hard to build but easy to destroy” and that they are “committed to building trustworthy experiences and marketing transactions for consumers and advertisers.”21
Jason Kint, the CEO of DCN, also responded to Pritchard’s comments.
“DCN has a firm commitment to transparency and will work hard to support your efforts to diminish non-transparent practices in the industry,” he said.22
Kint contended that Pritchard had a “rightful demand” and that DCN members should agree to the importance of MDC-accreditation in regards to third-party measurement verification.23
Indeed, 2017 seems to have been the year of ad transparency progress.
1 Stewart, Rebecca. “Brands Take Action to Claw Back Control of Digital Media Spend as 65% Bulk up in-House Teams.” The Drum, 16 Aug. 2017.
2 Goldman, Rob. “Update on Our Advertising Transparency and Authenticity Efforts.” Facebook Newsroom, Facebook Newsroom, 27 Oct. 2017.
3 Sloane., Garett. “No More ‘Dark Posts’: Facebook to Reveal All Ads.” Ad Age, 27 Oct. 2017.
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5 Collins, Laura. “What You Need to Know about Facebook’s New Ad Transparency.” Marketing Land, 24 Nov. 2017.
6 “Goldman, Rob. “Update on Our Advertising Transparency and Authenticity Efforts.” Facebook Newsroom, Facebook Newsroom, 27 Oct. 2017.
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9 Twitter, The announcement comes as. “Twitter Promises Greater Transparency for Political Ads, but Questions Remain.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 25 Oct. 2017.
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11 Falck, Bruce. “New Transparency For Ads on Twitter.” Twitter, Twitter, 24 Oct. 2017.
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13 Hutchinson, Andrew. “Twitter’s Adding a New Transparency Center to Provide Insight into Ad Targeting.” Social Media Today, 25 Oct. 2017.
14 Pahlavan, Babak. “Building Trust and Increasing Transparency with MRC-Accredited Measurement.” Google Agency Blog, 21 Feb. 2017.
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18 Publishers Respond to P&G’s Concerns.” WARC, 20 Feb. 2017.
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