• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 11, 2020

The Media Rating Council (MRC) has scuttled the second phase of an audit of Google’s YouTube audience measurement data -- the part that would validate third-party viewability data processors such as DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science and Oracle Moat -- and will embark on a new audit of Google’s first-party data process before it resumes auditing the third-party processors.

The MRC said the move was made because Google recently moved to transition all its third-party processors to its “Ads Data Hub” (ADH) platform covering all Google properties, making a previous MRC audit of the way Google handled YouTube’s measurement data processing “obsolete.”

The MRC said a new audit of Google’s first-party ADH processes would begin this quarter “on an expedited basis,” and noted that it also is simultaneously conducting an audit of “certain other Google first-party ADH processes” that are separate from the ones related to the original audit of YouTube’s audience measurement, including third-party processing. 

It did not disclose what the other processes under audit are.