WFA comments on ANA research on media transparency

Global media transparency has been a core part of WFA's focus since our foundation over 60 years ago in 1953.

It is now well understood that media agency groups receive rebates and other forms of income from media owners, leveraged by client volume spend, all around the world.

WFA's position on this is crystal clear: advertisers expect agencies to fully declare revenue streams directly or indirectly related to their business, for example, via rebates and 'arbitrage' among agency trading desks.

Research from the WFA has previously identified that rebates are less pervasive in the US than in other countries, but that a large share of these are being retained by media agencies.

We are not against rebates and AVBs in and of themselves but we believe that advertisers should receive a fair share of these and, crucially, that rebates should not create issues surrounding conflicts of interest.

Markets such as China and Ukraine suffer from some of the lowest levels of transparency when considered globally, as identified by WFA research which we conduct on an ongoing basis.

Rebates, unbilled media and market complexities characterised by layers of intermediaries and brokers are all widespread issues contended with by clients around the world.

Globalisation and new media trading practices have amplified and deepened transparency concerns, and the news from the ANA today, itself a member of the WFA, confirms that these issues are also taking place in the world's biggest ad market.

Media transparency requires constant global scrutiny and WFA is extremely focused on helping clients to navigate and address this complex issue. WFA guidance and best practice guidelines in relation to strengthening media agency contracts, programmatic media, and now ad fraud (see here), help clients to understand and mitigate the costs of an opaque and often inefficient ecosystem.

Stephan Loerke, WFA CEO, said "transparency has long been considered a critical issue by WFA and remains a priority for its members. We acknowledge the findings from the ANA and will continue to address the challenge globally, not least in emerging markets where transparency problems can be more acute."

"Advertisers should take the lead in addressing the challenge but WFA also believes in, and calls for, global cross-industry collaboration to find answers. That's why we have been conducting systematic dialogues between media agencies and clients around the world to better understand the issues and ultimately try and engender greater trust in the marketplace."

For further information, please contact Matt Green at m.green@wfanet.org