Less than a quarter (24%) of mobile media planners are using third-party measurement to validate their data.
The findings, taken from 150 UK mobile ad buyers by location technology company GroundTruth, follow a series of high-profile errors – including that of Facebook which resulted in industry-wide calls for third-party verification.
Over two-fifths (42%) of those that do use third-party verification claim its primary benefit is “instilling confidence” that clients are getting the best value for money, while over a third (36%) see the primary benefit as the ability to provide transparency.
Despite just one in four media planners using independent measurement services, GroundTruth expects the number to increase to 45% within the next 12 months.
“There is still much to be done to meet the industry demand for higher standards and to encourage mobile media buyers to fully utilise the third-party measurement tools available to them,” said Theo Theodorou, GM of GroundTruth EMEA.
“As agencies and marketers seek to provide clients with confidence they are getting value for their money and robust brand safety, greater transparency is essential and this can be achieved by working with third-party verified providers.”
Ad tech social media giant Facebook has perhaps been the poster boy of industry calls for independent measurement so far in 2017, having most recently charged advertisers for erroneous clicks on its mobile carousel ads. This followed it coming clean to overestimating its video viewability figures for some two years.
“The headlines of this year have unfortunately proven what many of us in the industry already know: today’s marketing tech landscape is complicated and is in great need of a robust, third-party regulator,” CEO and founder of marketing tech consultancy Appraise Digital, Neil Eatson.
While the rate of companies referring their data to external measurement sources low, it may be of less concern to those spending the budgets; a recent report by Greenlight found nearly a quarter of digital marketers (23%) admitted to not tracking any ad spend whatsoever.