For digital advertisers, tomorrow, Saturday, February 24, marks a new and unwanted holiday: Made-for-Advertising (MFA) Freedom Day.
MFA Freedom Day marks the day of the year when a typical advertiser stops paying for spammy and undesirable MFA sites and starts putting resources toward more effective inventory. The holiday is based on the percent of ad spend going to MFA sites, as highlighted in the landmark ANA Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study released last year.
The ANA study found that 15% of every ad dollar spent currently goes to MFA sites. As of tomorrow, we’ll be 15% through the year. Thus, the 55th day of 2024 marks the day advertisers completed those pernicious payments.
Beyond those MFA sites, the ANA study also found that advertisers lost another 26% of every dollar spent on non-viewable, non-measurable and invalid traffic, sacrificing more than a third of their media productivity on the altar of useless expenses.
The ANA study cast a stark light on the industry’s opacity, highlighting the detrimental impact of the lack of transparency across campaign performance and the critical need for marketers to have access to their granular log-level data. This lack of transparency translates to a staggering $22 billion in wasted or non-optimized ad spend – a figure demanding immediate action.
But amid this challenge lies opportunity. The ANA study not only illuminates the problem but also offers concrete solutions that can empower advertisers to unlock significant ROI improvements.
Here are five steps that all advertisers should take to strengthen their supply chains, improve transparency and ensure that MFA Freedom Day is a holiday they never have to commemorate again.
Step 1: Eradicate the MFA menace: No longer shall our marketing budgets be haunted by the specter of MFA sites, which accounted for more than 20% of all impressions delivered in the ANA study. By vanquishing the MFA monster, advertisers can save money and improve campaign effectiveness. Transparency shall be our shield, and we will refuse to pay for phantom MFA traffic inflating our campaign costs.
Step 2: Ascend the LLD data throne: The era of settling for limited or nontransparent log-level data (LLD) access is over. Advertisers should demand our rightful dominion over our campaign data, while dropping vendors who hoard this digital crown. Only those partners offering granular, unfettered data and providing full transparency should earn our loyalty. To fully benefit from this new transparency, we should invest in the expertise of seasoned LLD whisperers who can unlock the secrets buried within this cryptic realm. Together, we will embark on a deep dive into granular insights, unearthing hidden truths that have eluded us for too long.
Step 3: Benchmark with the best: In the quest for performance optimization, self-assessment alone is an insufficient metric. True progress necessitates benchmarking against industry leaders. We will therefore actively participate in ongoing ANA transparency benchmark initiatives, gleaning valuable insights for our teams and contributing to the overall enrichment of the industry by pushing ourselves consistently forward.
Step 4: Embrace TrueKPIs: In 2024, vanity metrics should be banished. The ANA’s TrueKPI framework, outlined in its December 2023 Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study, can be our guiding star, illuminating the path to efficient campaigns. With laser focus and relentless optimization of value, we will forge campaigns that resonate with audiences and deliver a knockout punch to cost-prohibitive frivolity. We will, through rigorous measurement, ensure that our investments yield tangible returns and forego the false idol of CPM alone.
Step 5: Champion quality journalism: We recognize the vital role of high-quality journalism in a flourishing digital ecosystem. Now we need to prioritize quality over price, actively supporting professional media outlets and journalists. This commitment aligns not only with ethical principles, but also with our long-term brand and performance goals. News offers a wealth of audiences and, for most advertisers, significant unduplicated reach. With demand for news spiking and younger cohorts returning to quality news platforms, news advertising will be a growth driver for your campaigns.
Let’s commemorate this first – and hopefully last – MFA Freedom Day by raising the banners of transparency, data-driven insights and quality journalism. In doing so, we can celebrate the impact and success of our campaigns – and not the wasted time and resources.
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.
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