This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Digital Media Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) has announced the first 100 participants to join its registry of companies committed to minimizing ad fraud.Reaching this threshold is significant, as it demonstrates that there is industry-wide consensus about the threat of ad fraud.The TAG registry opened in October, and is open any digital advertising company that abide by certain criteria and guidelines to combat ad fraud: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 Councils 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 TAGs 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.To begin, it works as a signal to the broader industry that an advertising company can be trusted. For instance, last year GroupMone of the world's largest media buyer with around $1.26 billioninvestedon behalf of its customers in 2014-15 requiredall of its media partners to receive anti-piracy certification from TAG.Having these certifications can increase demand for that company's services. Furthermore, in becoming a TAG member, a company is intentionally reducing its exposure to ad fraud, thereby mitigating revenue losses. 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 inthe TAG registry costs $10,000 in annual fees, though companies with less than $3 million in revenue are exempt. Signing up for TAGs various certificationslike the TAG Inventory Quality Guidelines, Anti-Fraud Threat List, and Malware Information Sharing Hubcarries additional costs.That being said, companies that sign up for a membership package, which includes the TAG registration and certifications, receive a discount. Joining TAG might be a straightforward decision for large firms, but companies making just over $3 million will need to lend more thought to the costs and benefits of TAG membership.To receive stories like this one directly to your inbox every morning, sign up for the Digital Media Briefing newsletter.Click here to learn more about how you can gain risk-free access today.Join the conversation about this story
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