Confidence Erodes In Wake Of Facebook, Dentsu: New Standards Sought

Industry standards for reporting media delivery are eroding and new ones need to emerge, according to advertisers and agency executives polled in the aftermath of controversial restatements by Facebook and Dentsu.

The findings, which come from a survey of 303 marketing and agency executives conducted online by Advertiser Perceptions Inc. in October for MediaPost, indicates that six in 10 feel new industry standards are needed.

While the survey did not ask how those standards should be defined and who should organize them, a significant percentage (28%) of respondents feel current standards are eroding, while a somewhat smaller percentage (22%) believe the Facebook and Dentsu incidents were “outliers” and not reflective of overall industry standards.

Nearly a third (31%) of respondents are resigned to the fact that mistakes and discrepancies are “just a fact of life” in the ad industry. That view was held more by agency execs (33%) than advertisers (27%).

2 comments about "Confidence Erodes In Wake Of Facebook, Dentsu: New Standards Sought".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 4, 2016 at 2:37 p.m.

    Joe, I think that there is little question about how media audience delivery is defined or reported for TV, radio, magazines and newspapers. In each instance there are long accepted audience surveys and, in the case of print media, independent audits of circulation. So, I assume that we are talking about digital media where is seems clear to me that independent auditing is needed as well as acceptable definitions of what constitutes an "impression". I believe that when we think digital we must distinguish between the various types of advertising---branding, direct response, search, etc. as these may require varying definitions.

  2. Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., November 4, 2016 at 2:47 p.m.

    Ed - I cannot comment for all the respondents of this survey, but I think there is an overriding feeling that industry standards are eroding and that there is reduced trust and transparency. Both the Facebook and Dentsu disclosures involved digital media, but as we know there are often discrepancies, mistakes, misstatements, corrections, and restatements involving all media, including TV, radio, magazines and newspapers. Even in broadcast TV, where stations' utilize master controls that are accountable to their FCC licenses, discrepancies happen and needed to be mediated between advertisers, agencies and the media. But my own sense is I agree with you that the degradation of industry sentiment is related more to the lack of controls in digital media. It's worthy of a much more thorough investigation and research.

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