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ARTICLE

Independent Research by Forrester Finds Advertisers’ Need for a Transparent, Trustworthy Supply Chain to Prove ROI

August 13, 2020 — by MediaMath    

Whether it’s zero-based budgeting or a focus on profitability, most advertisers are feeling the pressure to get the most value from their marketing investments—especially amidst current global events. But many advertisers have been unable to quantify the ROI of their digital ad spend. It’s an issue that has been independently validated in recent reports like ISBA’s “Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study,” which showed that 15% of advertising costs are unaccounted for. In July 2020, MediaMath commissioned a custom study executed by Forrester Consulting called “Confident Media Spending Requires A More Transparent And Addressable Supply Chain” which shows that only 33% of more than 220 advertisers surveyed say they can demonstrate and report the financial return on their programmatic media spend completely and accurately.

The reason many advertisers can’t tie their ad spend back to their business’s bottom line comes down to a murky digital media supply chain. A more well-lit ecosystem is critical to informing advertisers’ buying decisions. According to the Forrester Consulting study:

  • 94 percent of marketers face executive scrutiny over how digital media spend is performing yet only 33 percent of marketers say they can demonstrate and report the financial return on their programmatic media spend completely and accurately.
  • Over 70% of respondents find media accountability, transparency, addressability, and alignment across the media ecosystem partner interests important to their programmatic buying decisions.
  • Marketers were most likely to say they lacked a fundamental understanding of the role intermediaries play in media buying today, which 39% cited as a top challenge.
  • When it comes down to what is contributing to less transparency in the digital media supply chain today, 48% note having less visibility into costs and fees.

Download the full study here.

We created the SOURCE supply chain with 15 key industry partners to combat these very challenges. With better alignment of brand and publisher interests in MediaMath’s SOURCE supply chain, advertisers get more accurate ROI calculations and improved return on ad spend overall relative to legacy programmatic—127% increased ROAS for one B2C RETAILER—and 15%+ more efficiency over legacy programmatic execution. Our supply chain has modernized commercial terms that hold each partner contractually accountable for providing incremental value within the ad tech supply chain. And exclusive data-sharing with our SOURCE supply chain helps put more of every dollar to work.

Consumer behavior is shifting rapidly toward an all-digital expression. Many brands will seek to take advantage of this opportunity, but with so many changes happening in the world, what’s the best way to proceed in 2020? We think digital advertising on the open Web executed through more trustworthy, transparent pipes is the answer.