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100 companies have joined TAG's anti-fraud initiative
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The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) has announced the first 100 participants to join its registry of companies committed to protecting the integrity of the digital ad ecosystem.
Reaching this threshold is significant, as it demonstrates that there is industry-wide consensus about the threats of fraud, piracy, malware, and low-quality inventory in the digital advertising.
Membership to the TAG Registry is a validation that a digital advertising company is legitimate, as determined through a proprietary background check conducted in coordination with business intelligence firm Dun & Bradstreet.
Joining the registry is a prerequisite to the TAG seal programs, including the Certified Against Fraud Program, Certified Against Piracy Program, Certified Against Malware Program, and Inventory Quality Guidelines Certification Program. Companies can sign on to these certifications as long as they meet certain, additional requirements.
For instance, for the Certified Against Fraud Program, companies will need to fulfill the following criteria:
All companies must submit to a background check, and provide a tax ID number, corporate address, contact information for designated TAG compliance officer.
Direct buyers (e.g. advertisers) must have a designated TAG compliance officer, and comply with the Media Rating Council’s Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Guidelines.
Direct sellers (e.g. publishers) must comply with the same steps as direct buyers, as well as perform domain list and data center IP list filtering (whitelisting or blacklisting certain internet actors), as well as publisher sourcing disclose requirements (monitoring traffic).
Intermediaries (e.g. ad networks) must comply with the same steps at direct buyers, perform domain list and data center IP list filtering, and adhere to TAG’s Payment ID protocol, which records who gets paid for which impression and helps prevent revenue from flowing to criminals.
Becoming a TAG member has several key advantages. It signals to the broader industry that a company can be trusted. For instance, last year GroupM — one of the world's largest media buyer with around $1.26 billion invested on behalf of its customers in 2014-15 — required all of its media partners to receive anti-piracy certification from TAG.
The other benefit is that joining TAG requires that a company to intentionally reduce its exposure to threats in the digital ad ecosystem. Protecting against these threats can help mitigate revenue losses. For example, ad fraud driven by bot or nonhuman traffic is expected to cost the digital media industry $7.2 billion by the end of 2016, according to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
Yet medium-sized enterprises might be wary of the cost of joining. Participating in the TAG registry costs $10,000 in annual fees, though companies with less than $3 million in revenue are exempt from this fee. Then, signing up for TAG’s various certifications also carries additional costs. However, companies that sign up for a membership package that includes both TAG's Registry and its certifications will receive a discount.
But while TAG membership might be a straightforward decision for large firms, companies making just over $3 million will need to lend more thought to the costs and benefits of joining.
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(Corrections: An earlier article conflated the TAG Registry with the requirements for the Certified Against Fraud Seal)
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