“Marketers have spent the last several years watching fraud, invalid traffic, and supply chain issues emerge across companies that were, in many cases, TAG-accredited,” said David Nyurenberg, svp of digital at indie agency InterMedia Advertising. “That doesn’t necessarily mean TAG caused those problems, but it does call into question how much protection the certification actually provides.”
He added that there have been very few examples of certifications being revoked when accredited companies are linked to major controversies (with Nielsen’s temporary loss of its MRC accreditation a notable exception). As such, he said, “TAG increasingly feels less like a meaningful accountability mechanism and more like a credential whose relevance has diminished as the industry has become more skeptical of self-regulation.”
TAG’s peers previously signaled their support for the group; in 2016, the trade bodies 4A’s and the ANA advised that advertisers consider demanding that their digital ad partners be TAG-certified against fraud. The ANA’s Master Media Buying Services Agreement Template makes that recommendation explicit, and the organization told ADWEEK it has “no plans to modify those recommendations.” The IAB also encouraged TAG certification in 2016.
Neither the 4A’s nor the IAB provided a comment by press time.
