Google Opens Access for Transparency Tool Amid Industry Debate on Ad

Jan 21, 2024

Google is introducing a tool throughout its ad-tech products today that is designed to help publishers and buyers track ad-tech fees, a contentious area of programmatic where Google has not always been seen as an honest broker.

While the tool thus far has not revealed any hidden fees, programmatic execs would like to see more features that incentivize positive change.

The tool, called Confirming Gross Revenue, lets publishers see the gross revenue from a particular buyer. If that matches the media cost on the buyer's end, both sides of the market should be more confident there are no hidden ad-tech fees.

"It offers checks and balances to ensure reported working media on the buy side aligns with the revenue actually received by the publisher," said Mediavine VP of ad operations Brad Hagmann who has been using the tool. "For those snapshots of campaigns in progress, decisions could be made based on the findings."

Programmatic Ad Spend Is Getting Less Murky

Confirming Gross Revenue was first launched to select firms in July 2022 and will now be available to all publishers using Google's SSP Ad Manager 360 and all advertisers using Google's DSP Display & Video 360.

The company said the tool is designed as an industry solution to be implemented by other ad-tech firms, and it is working with the industry trade group the IAB, of which Google is a paying member, to help with standardization.

Ad-tech fees have come under increased scrutiny after research has shown how they have swallowed publishers’ revenue. A report in January from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers found that 65% of advertiser spend reached publishers, and 3% could not be accounted for. Other research from independent ad-tech research firm Adalytics found instances where middlemen pocket the majority of media revenue.

Google has, at times, come up unfavorably in conversations about the fairness of ad auctions. A 2020 lawsuit from a group of attorneys general against the company alleged that it rigged auctions in such a way that buyers were systematically overcharged and publishers underpaid. Publishers have also been frustrated that Google won't give access to log-level data, which would help shed light on potential auction irregularities.

With the Confirming Gross Revenue tool, Google said it is not offering log-level data and instead providing aggregated gross revenue amounts, citing user privacy concerns.

Mediavine, which served as an early tester of Confirming Gross Revenue, said that, so far, it has only used the tool on behalf of buy-side clients and that the tool has revealed no hidden fees.

Others, like head of programmatic sales and data at Prisma Media Paul Ripart, are quoted in the press release also saying the tool revealed no hidden ad-tech fees.

However, some are less bullish on the tool's efficacy.

"Publishers are doubtful this will do much to alleviate concerns," said Jason Kint, CEO of publisher trade body Digital Content Next.

Early testers of Confirming Gross Revenue only gave publishers information about the endpoints of a campaign and not the hops along the way in the notoriously murky supply chain, Kint added.

I’m not sure how [the tool] incentives or even vaguely encourages change.

Anonymous publisher ad-tech source

"If a publisher and advertiser find a discrepancy, our team can check common causes, such as currency and time zone differences and invalid traffic detection mechanisms," Dan Taylor, vp of global ads told Adweek. "If there's still missing information, we will help the customer dig deeper to uncover the issue."

A publishing ad-tech source, who was not authorized to speak to the press, said that no matter what the tool reveals, publishers are often powerless to take action.

"[If] your spend disappears with 50% gone between you (buyer) and me (publisher)…now what?" the source said. "Is that relevant to the buyer if they got all the ad impressions they wanted to the right place at the right price?"

"I’m not sure how [the tool] incentives or even vaguely encourages change," the source added.

Taylor said Google's advertising partners have also asked for fee transparency.

"Buyers want to make sure their entire media cost reaches the publisher and they’re getting the full value of their spend," Taylor said.

The news comes on the heels of new roadblocks within an industry initiative from trade body the Association of National Advertisers to conduct a transparency audit of the programmatic supply chain.

The ANA parted ways with PwC as auditor, Digiday reported, and there are reportedly challenges getting the requisite data. Google said it only had access to buy-side data and could not share sell-side information.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Confirming Gross Revenue tool includes the fees of the demand-side platform.

Catherine is an Adweek staff reporter covering ad tech and platforms.