Transparency is a major issue in digital advertising given the volume of ad space bought programmatically, as well as the amount of click fraud and maladvertising. For marketers it’s frustrating to see industry organizations at odds over such basic matters. The ANA issued a report this summer that found rampant rebates between agencies and publishers to the detriment of marketers buying ad space, a report that put the transparency argument front and center.

Given the importance of the issue, it would be better to see the 4As and ANA work together rather than have public dust ups with member agencies leaving over procedural moves requiring signing on to a certain set of guidelines. Instead, 4As recently upgraded its own guidelines around transparency to make them standards enforced by a threat of expulsion for violators.

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