ANA Wants Seven Major Ad Platforms to Allow Independent Auditing

The Association of National Advertisers wants seven of the world’s biggest ad platforms to open themselves to independent auditing of ad campaigns, reports Adweek, which added: “That doesn’t appear to be a hard sell, given that five of the seven have already expressed varying levels of support for the move.

“Specifically, the ANA, an industry group representing brand marketers, asked Amazon, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Foursquare to begin allowing for independent auditing from the Media Rating Council (MRC) for ad campaigns on their platforms. The development comes on the heels of Facebook and Google/YouTube committing to using the MRC.

“Adweek reached out to the seven companies put on notice by the ANA. Snap Inc., the parent of Snapchat, declined comment, and Amazon has yet to respond.

“But spokespeople for Twitter and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, said their platforms are already making progress with the MRC.

““Both Facebook and Instagram are committed to the MRC audit,” a Facebook rep said via email while pointing to the company’s recent blog post on the matter. 

“And a Twitter spokesperson said, “As members of the MRC, we’re consistently having conversations about how we and our peers can improve transparency and reporting.”

“Pinterest, LinkedIn and Foursquare, meanwhile, issued statements that appear to suggest a willingness to comply with what the ANA desires.”