Google introduces new tool to expose hidden ad tech fees
Google, whose parent company Alphabet just released its Q2 earnings, has created Confirming Gross Revenue, a new solution to give ad buyers and publishers a way to verify that there were no hidden fees taken from their transactions within Ads Manager.
The publisher can use the new Revenue Verification Report to see the aggregate gross revenue received from a specific buyer.
The buyer and the publisher can then verify the media cost from the buyer’s reporting matches the gross revenue the publisher received. If the numbers match, the buyer can confirm that their full media spend reached the publisher and no hidden fees were taken.
Spark Foundry chief digital officer, Rachida Murray, told Mumbrella: “Greater transparency in the programmatic supply chain is something the industry sorely needs. Google’s efforts to provide further transparency to publishers, buyers, and marketers alike via its Confirming Gross Revenue feature is a welcome privacy-safe contribution to this space. It is our hope that the rest of the industry – DSPs and SSPs in particular – lean into test, and feedback and adopt the solution. This feature has the potential to be a great first step to improve transparency and trust in the programmatic supply chain.”
The tech giant said Display & Video 360 is onboard as an early tester, and, as a new solution, it’s in communication and collaboration with other demand-side platforms, sell-side platforms, publishers, and agencies, who will test this feature and provide feedback to improve it.
“As we onboard more partners, we have started to gather some of this feedback,” the company said.
Omnicom Media Group Australia, chief operating officer, Philip Pollock, said: “OMG prides ourselves in being industry-leading advocates for full supply chain transparency. We believe this feature will be a great first step toward confirming that there are no hidden fees in programmatic buying, and having a seat at the table gives us the best opportunity to affect positive change for advertisers.”
IAB Tech Lab CEO, Anthony Katsur, added: “Greater transparency in the digital advertising supply chain through solutions like Confirming Gross Revenue is sorely needed. That’s why we’ve made it a priority to invest in creating industry standards like ads.txt, sellers.json, DemandChain Object and buyers.json to help everyone raise the bar on trust in programmatic buying. We look forward to working with Google on this privacy-forward solution and potentially incorporating these concepts into IAB Tech Lab’s standards portfolio.”
Episode breakdown
- What will Google’s defamation ruling spell for platforms? (01:45)
- What do two sets of media agency rankings tell us about the industry (11:22)
- Interview with Mat Baxter (15:03)
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topics
Confirming Gross Revenue
Display & Video 360
Google
Google Ads Manager
Rachida Murray
Revenue Verification Report
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