In the online advertising process, there are two areas where a Digital Audit can add value:
Web site traffic is instrumental in the media planning process. Advertising delivery ensures that ad impressions are properly served and counted.
With billions of dollars in ad revenue flowing into digital media, advertisers will increasingly require independently audited numbers to verify activity and foster trust in this evolving medium.
Just as publishers and print advertisers demand accuracy and credibility for traditional media, those investing in digital media will come to expect the same standards.
While there is no doubt that digital media is reaching a wider audience—and will continue to do so — there is a growing demand for accountability online. Simply put, marketers want to be sure they are getting what they pay for. The myriad forms of measurement available today, and the rapidly changing technology on which they rely, have—ironically—made it difficult for advertising buyers and sellers to completely agree on key metrics, definitions, and billing standards.
To help meet your growing demand for more independently verified online data, the ABC and CAB are developing a suite of interactive tools and audit services for online publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies.
Digital Audits support international initiatives for the development of standard industry measurement, reporting and auditing.
Consider having your web measurement reporting audited. This will allow you to provide media planners and prospective advertisers with independently verified traffic data based on industry agreed standards.
Advertising Agencies
Encourage Web sites to continually monitor discrepancies between third-party ad-server reporting and their own internal logs.
Agencies that rely on their own third-party ad-serving numbers for client billing should verify that the ad-serving technology has been audited and also commit to a process audit to have related internal controls and procedures evaluated.
Because of the growing importance of digital across all platforms, educate planners and buyers across the spectrum about the intricacies of online reporting and ad-serving technology.
Advertisers
Examine the processes and procedures your advertising agency uses to measure, report, and bill for your online media campaigns to ensure that appropriate technologies and controls are audited.
Consider a campaign-specific audit to verify that ad activity (impressions, click-throughs, conversions, etc.) is accurately measured during a specific period.
The Audited Advantage—Credibility You Can Sell
An ABA web measurement service can do just that – satisfy advertisers’ need for reliable, credible data to reassure them that your Web site attracts and delivers the audience they’re looking to target. This is an important competitive advantage in a market flooded with unverified Web site traffic claims. The ABA can also help you integrate data from both your print and online brands, allowing you to present advertisers with your entire media footprint in one convenient report.
Digital media and online advertising are continuing to evolve, with growth likely to continue for the foreseeable future. As interactive media become more valued by advertisers, the demand for accountability (are marketers getting what they paid for?) will only increase.
For publisher’s using server-based audience measurement, ABC already offers an audit to verify the data produced by the log files. A Web site’s server, or your analytics company, maintains a complete record of all activity that occurs on the site. These records are called log files and are rich with data about your site’s traffic such as the number of unique users, page views, top requested pages and more.
The log file analysis offering however, does not take advantage of current technology: it is labor intensive, slow and expensive. The lack of real time reporting and high cost discourages greater client interest. Therefore, the ABA has decided to undertake a review of our current web measurement offering to ensure it is providing what the market needs in both the short and long term.
Certified data provides advertisers, sponsors and other investors in your business with independent verification of the claims you are making; this enables you to support your business case with transparent, credible and comparable data. By demonstrating your support for industry agreed standards you associate your online business with the ABA, the recognised media auditing brand, delivering trust that you trade with integrity and professionalism.
The Express Guide to the Industry Agreed Metrics:
| 1. How many - | the 'audience reach' metric = Unique Users |
| 2. How busy - | the 'volume' metric = Page Impressions |
| 3. How often - | the 'frequency' metric = Visits |
| 4. What see - | the 'opportunity to see' metric = Ad Impressions |
| 5. What do - | the 'response' metric = Ad Clicks |
> View the Industry Agreed Metrics
ABA Launches Mobile Website to Help Protect Advertiser Dollars
The Audit Bureaux of Australia (ABA) has launched an innovative online tool that allows advertisers, media buyers and business owners to quickly check a publication’s audited circulation data, to help advertisers make safe and informed decisions when purchasing media ads.
Newspapers Embrace New Rules For Reporting Day-of-Week Sales
11 November 2011 -The Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun together with APN News & Media’s entire stable of regional daily newspapers are among the major newspapers that have begun voluntarily reporting their average sales numbers for each day of the week, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) announced today.
CAB Elects Advertising Agency Representive To Lead New Board
7 October 2011 -The Circulations Audit Board (CAB) highlighted the importance of the protection of advertisers and media buyers with the return of an advertising agency representative as President at the CAB’s annual general meeting held in Sydney on Thursday October 6, 2011.
CAB Calls on Advertisers to ‘Count On Us’ in new Advertising Campaign
5 August 2011 - The Circulations Audit Board has launched its biggest-ever awareness campaign to promote the importance of audited media with the support of CAB members through the roll out of ads across over 800 CAB audited print publications in September.
CAB Conference Here to Stay
28 July 2011 - The Circulations Audit Board’s inaugural Accountability in Ad Spend conference brought together its community of media buyers, print and digital publishers to discuss sex, auditing and macarons with roaring success this month.
Australian Businesses Losing Millions Through Media Scams
11 July 2011 - Australian businesses are losing more than $29 million annually as a result of media scams, with small and medium businesses bearing the brunt of the losses. The Circulations Audit Board (CAB), who is hosting the upcoming Accountability in Ad Spend conference on 21 July, has identified the millions lost each month.
ABC Launches Landmark New Rules to Increase Transparency and Accuracy of Print Sales Data
1 July 2011 - The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has today launched significant new rules for the auditing and reporting of sales data for print publications, encompassing changes to deliver day-of-week reporting for newspapers, voluntary reporting for all publications and updates to the auditing and reporting of sales categories.
CAB Launches Major Review of Exhibition Auditing
27 June 2011 - The Circulations Audit Board (CAB) has launched the first major review of its exhibition audit rules and guidelines in more than six years, forming a committee of industry leaders to review the existing rules and bring them in line with current market needs.
