Digital Advertising Businesses in Southeast Asia are being urged to implement standards from TAG

Singapore, Thursday 8 June 2023 – Twenty-two leading digital advertising businesses, among the largest and most influential operating in Southeast Asia, are calling for industry-wide adoption of rigorous industry standards that are proven to reduce advertising-related criminal activity and strengthen brand safety in the region. 

Each company has implemented TAG’s standards across their Southeast Asian operations. Research (conducted by TAG) has shown that these standards help protect consumers and the digital advertising ecosystem from harms caused by fraudulent and malicious actors, and inappropriate advertisement placements. 

Companies supporting the collaborative Call To Action include: 

• Adform
• Amazon Advertising
• IPG Mediabrands
• Initiative
• Innity
• Kinesso
• Magna
• Magnite
• Matterkind
• MediaMath
• Meta
• Microsoft Advertising
• Omnicom Media Group (OMG)
• OpenX
• Publicis Media
• PubMatic
• Reprise
• Quantcast
• Spotify
• Teads
• UM
• Xaxis

“Complicated and fast-changing challenges like ad fraud and brand safety must be addressed holistically by our industry, so we can ensure all advertisers and consumers in the region are protected by the same high standards,” said TAG’s VP Global Engagement and Operations, Nick Stringer. “These Southeast Asian industry leaders are at the forefront of this fight by taking  essential steps to protect their businesses, their partners but most importantly their customers and users. After experiencing the benefits of this 360-approach, they are asking for others to follow and combine efforts to reinforce Southeast Asia’s defences against this threat”. 

Each of the participating companies in the announcement have made a commitment to advance regional adoption of rigorous industry standards by:

• Supporting TAG and its global efforts to address criminal activity and to ensure brand safety in digital advertising;
• Promoting TAG standards to achieve this goal in Southeast Asia, as well as improving the Return of Investment (ROI) for brand advertisers; and
• Encouraging the wider industry in Southeast Asia to participate, comply with the standards, and to contribute to the industry's pursuit of increased trust and transparency in digital advertising.

Since establishing its presence in Southeast Asia in 2019, TAG has consistently expanded its industry consultation, support, and advocacy initiatives. This ‘Call To Action’ follows a TAG member’s roundtable discussion held in Singapore on 13 March 2023, and the publication of TAG’s latest Asia Pacific research report, released in conjunction with The 614 Group’s Brand Safety Summit held in Singapore on 14 March 2023. 

The TAG Asia-Pacific Fraud Snapshot compares Invalid Traffic (IVT) rates across markets and digital channels, including those where multiple companies in the digital advertising supply chain are certified to TAG’s ad fraud standard (‘TAG Certified Channels’). The latest research found that IVT in the Asia-Pacific region was 0.56% - achieving the below 1% milestone for the fourth consecutive year.

“Research in Southeast Asia has shown that digital ad fraud is pernicious, but it can be reliably avoided when multiple companies in the supply chain adhere to TAG standards” said Shane Mitchell, TAG’s Southeast Asia Consultant. “TAG’s efforts are made considerably stronger when global members act locally and are joined in the fight by regional and local industry leaders.”

“At GroupM we are proud to be a certified global partner of TAG, as it very much aligns with our ambitions to increase verification standards and transparency to our clients and the wider industry. The TAG programmess provide a strong framework to ensure best practices are in place which improve our programmatic supply and maintain the integrity of the digital advertising ecosystem. Engaging with these programs globally and regionally helps maximize marketers’ investment in digital and further reduces opportunities for fraud and inventory misrepresentation in the media supply chain.”
- Dominic Barnard, APAC Head of Programmatic at GroupM Nexus

“Our partnership with TAG holds tremendous value, and we are committed to bringing further transparency and verification gold standards to the dynamic market of Asia. At Innity, we firmly believe that transparency is the cornerstone of success in the digital advertising industry. By embracing TAG's programs, we are taking a proactive approach to ensure that advertisers, publishers, and consumers alike can have confidence in the campaigns they engage with.”
- Phang Chee Leong, CEO, Asia at Innity

“We see tremendous value as a global partner of TAG and we’re excited to bring further transparency and verification standards to Asia. Participating in the TAG programmes provides a great framework to ensure proper controls and systems are in place to protect the integrity of the digital advertising ecosystem. When implemented properly, these programmes help maximize marketers’ investment in digital and protect media owners from nefarious actors who undermine the values and benefits of programmatic ad campaigns as well as the work it takes to produce high quality content.”
- Gavin Buxton, Managing Director, Asia at Magnite

“We are extremely proud of our Platinum Status with TAG particularly because protecting our clients and consumers within the ad ecosystem has always been a top priority at MediaMath. Brand Safety, trust, and transparency are at the forefront of our work every day, and we appreciate this acknowledgement through this global initiative.“ 
- Justin Adler-Swanberg, Director of Product Strategy-Quality and Compliance at MediaMath 

“At Microsoft, our mission is to empower everyone to achieve more, and we build our products and services with security, privacy, compliance, and transparency in mind. We applaud TAG for taking steps to reduce advertising-related criminal activity and ensure brand safety in digital advertising. We believe that industry collaboration will be critical to advancing these efforts and we are committed to supporting TAG’s efforts.”
- Tom Dover, Senior Director of Partner Sales, JAPAC at Microsoft Advertising

"It is our responsibility to protect our advertisers and partners from fraudulent and malicious activities while maintaining transparency and trust in the digital advertising ecosystem. As industry leaders, we fully support TAG's global efforts and by promoting its standards we aim to improve the return on investment for our advertisers and encourage the wider industry to comply with these standards"
- Bharat Khatri, Chief Digital Officer, APAC at OMG9179274128/content

“As a certified platinum member of TAG, Publicis Media has always been dedicated to upholding the highest standards in digital advertising. We are excited to achieve greater industry transparency by championing TAG’s rigorous standards in Asia to help our clients maximize their investments and help mitigate potential brand safety and suitability risks. Combatting advertising-related criminal activity and enhancing brand safety requires an industry effort, and implementing TAG's standards while collaborating closely with other industry leaders is vital to protect our clients, publisher partners and the end users."
- Jonathan Mackenzie, Head of Precision & Data Solutions at Publicis Media

“Brand safety and ad fraud are amongst the top five inhibitors to digital advertising adoption, according to a recent survey we conducted of marketing professionals in the APAC region. Adhering to set standards is one way to improve trust within the advertising industry, which will in turn contribute to better experiences for consumers.”
- Sonal Patel, Managing Director, APAC at Quantcast

“As a Global Certified Partner of TAG, we are excited to extend this partnership and bring to Asia transparency and verification gold standards. We see a tremendous value in the TAG programme framework, which actively implements control and ensures a safe digital advertising ecosystem for our industry. Thanks to TAG, brands can be in control and assess the quality of media environments that their ads are shown in while achieving their business outcomes.”
- Christian Guinot, CEO APAC at Teads

“At UM we rigorously protect and uphold the standing of the brands we represent; through the investment decisions we make and the guardrails that we put in place. We recognise the mitigation of ad fraud as a critical component of the move towards a more sustainable marketing ecosystem. Our platinum certification with TAG clearly demonstrates our commitment and adherence to the business safeguarding standards which are deep-rooted into the DNA of our organisation. Our commitment to uphold and continuously improve these standards, ensures that UM is well-positioned to deliver on both brand safety and economic returns for every dollar invested.”
- Ben Tuff, Chief Product Officer APAC at UM

About TAG

TAG (The Trustworthy Accountability Group) is the global certification programme designed to fight against criminal activity and protect brand safety in the digital advertising industry. TAG advances its mission of eliminating fraudulent traffic, facilitating the sharing of threat intelligence, and promoting brand safety by connecting industry leaders, analyzing threats, and sharing best practices worldwide. The 700+ member TAG community includes the world's largest and most influential brands, agencies, publishers, and ad tech providers. For more information on TAG, please visit tagtoday.net.