When Adalytics published its latest ad verification observations, I was pleasantly surprised by the response and coverage. That was (past tense) encouraging. I think we need a lot more of it in the public light of day.
Unfortunately, we've landed back where we always do. Right where we started. The industry discussion would have most believe that the issue is just a wasteful edge-case not worth worrying about.
While yes, the hyper-specific case that Adalytics pointed out may have flaws and might be an edge-case, that is not the point.
The responses are more important than the report
To be clear, this isn't a knock on DV's or the MRC's response, which I summarize below. It's the space between the lines that caught my attention.
Two things specifically:
- Many advertisers and agencies do not understand how the technology works but may think they do. Said another way, there is a disconnect between what the brands want the technology to do versus what it actually does.
- Advertisers need to know what they're being billed for at a granular level.
