Trust is typically an intangible concept. It’s built – or broken - over time in the mind of the individual, through the demonstration of actions and behaviors. It can and should be a hard earned thing.

For the digital and programmatic advertising industry, harnessing the power of data and technology to deliver more accurate tracking, management, and measurement, was intended – amongst other things - to act as a demonstrable enabler of trust for key stakeholders. However, this outcome has proven harder to realize, with trust in advertising by the general public being lower than many other industries, and over 1/3 of CMO’s not trusting their marketing data.

But why? A significant driver of the trust issues in advertising can be attributed to the combined impact of ad fraud, malware, and abuse of brand safety. To underline the significance for marketers, global losses to ad fraud alone exceeded $35 billion in 2020, a figure expected to rise to $50 billion by 2025, according to the World Federation of Advertisers, While much of ad fraud is concentrated outside of the premium publisher ecosystem (within which Adform has established long-standing and direct supply side integrations), this is an industry-wide issue to which all participants should actively seek to address, reduce and remove potential threats.

At Adform, we have always used our independence as a platform to make the industry better. We proactively developed a proprietary Invalid Traffic (IVT) solution called “Bearskin”, and we agnostically integrate with a number of gold standard industry brand safety and viewability partners. These are just a few of our initiatives.

But equally, we believe that independent industry observation and certification forms the foundation of trusted partnerships - they are essential in bringing validation, confidence, and assurance to any advertiser. As such, Adform has routinely submitted itself to rigorous independent examination, with one of our longest-running and most high-profile qualifications coming from TAG.

The Trustworthy Accountability Group is the world’s leading program to fight criminal activity and protect brand safety in digital advertising, with a 700+ member community including the world's largest and most influential brands, agencies, publishers, and ad tech providers.

Adform is a founding member of the TAG’s Certified Against Fraud initiative, and became TAG certified against Fraud in 2017. We subsequently became Brand Safety certified and certified against Malware soon after. Unlike some of our competitors, these certifications represent our entire global operations, with independent auditing of our submissions by BPA Worldwide.

Now in 2022, we are proud to share that Adform has been awarded TAG Platinum status, reflecting our comprehensive approach, robust internal systems, and ability to have successfully undergone a rigorous application and review process needed to receive all of TAG's available seals.

TAG Platinum status is Adform’s demonstration of our actions and behaviors in regard to ad fraud and malware prevention, as well as safeguarding brand safety, to the highest standards. This is Adform’s demonstration of transparency, independence, and partnership to which every marketer can recognize, realizing not only a better, more trusted advertising experience, but also the protection of valuable investment from waste and misuse. This is one of the many ways Adform is committed to earning and deserving the trust of our clients.

 

For an overview of Adform's Industry Memberships and Certifications: