The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is looking for more transparency and accountability in the programmatic media-buying process, and it has enlisted some help to do so.

Three suppliers have been selected to take on the project: consultancy PwC, corporate investigations and risk consulting firm Kroll and the Trustworthy Accountability Group’s TrustNet. TAG is a cross-industry project created by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the U.S. – TrustNet is a platform using distributed ledger technology (similar to blockchain) to provide transparency into the programmatic buying process, launched in the U.K. in 2020.

Last April, ANA issued an RFP to find independent consultants to undertake an expanded study that goes beyond examining the chain of advertiser to publisher to also look at advertiser to audience and include all programmatic trading platforms, not just the open web.

The goal of the initiative is to make the digital media supply chain more understandable and transparent as well as to eliminate wasteful and unproductive spending. In addition, it hopes to assess whether industry oversight bodies are needed to maintain the integrity of the system and institute corrective solutions.

It comes as advertisers continue to push for more transparency into who they’re paying, what they’re paying for and how they got it. ANA estimates that of the roughly $200 billion USD spent on programmatic globally in a given year, about 70% doesn’t reach the end consumer. Instead, the association says, it goes to fraudulent or non-viewable impressions, non-brand-safe placements and unknown allocations, as well as being spent on ad fees.