Media companies pressed to open up walled gardens in new global charter for advertisers

The World Federation of Advertisers has issued the first update of its Global Media Charter in five years, pushing for media companies to open up their walled gardens with more data transparency, allowing third parties to make comparisons more readily among media and platforms, and to avoid data restrictions or other deal structures that unfairly channel media buys toward their own inventory, among other things. The charter provides a roadmap for collective action by global advertisers. The original document led to the Origin cross-platform media measurement effort in conjunction with the Association of National Advertisers and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media to address brand safety issues. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The 2018 charter focused on such elements as brand safety, viewability and cross-media measurement, said Isabel Massey, VP of global media and content, who has worked on both editions. And she believes the WFA made progress as a result, with initiatives on cross-media measurement and GARM. “That charter really spurred on some critical industry initiatives that galvanized the industry,” Massey said. And so the conversation she had with Gerry D’Angelo, VP of global media at Procter & Gamble Co., who co-chaired the current effort, was “how could we do the same again, still making sure those [prior] programs got focused but looking for the next evolution and where the industry was going over the next three years and rally everyone together again,” Massey said. ‘Self-preferencing stifles innovation’ The focus on competition and plurality comes as the world’s biggest media company, Google, faces antitrust scrutiny in the U.S., with two lawsuits and considerable allegations in the recent Justice Department lawsuit of “self-preferencing” and opaque data practices that stifle competition—all things the new Global Media Charter seeks to eliminate. Google has denied allegations in both lawsuits and moved last month to dismiss the Justice Department lawsuit. “Players operating as buyer, seller and marketplace should not be allowed to leverage their dominant position to favor their own products and services,” the WFA’s charter states. “Self-preferencing stifles innovation, the emergence of new players and suppresses healthy competition,” according to the charter. “A sustainable ecosystem requires plurality of competition (i.e. many/multiple sell-side media owners through which to transact).” Advertisers should use their own influence, including their buying power, and that of their national associations to combat such things, according to the charter. “Monopolistic market conditions, with concentration of control among few players, rarely yields the level of innovation desired by advertisers.” Massey said the charter isn’t focused on any particular company or segment with that language. “What we were focused on was ensuring that any media or tech company, big or small, does it foster healthy competition,” she said. “We also talked about some areas like retail media and connected TV, because it was very important that we weren’t just focused on who the players are today but also the main players tomorrow.” More news: Retail media's measurement problem The charter’s focus on sustainability comes as more advertisers focus on the carbon footprints of their media buys, and the WFA could play a role by weighing in on a common industry measurement. “Any form of industry change starts with common industry measurement,” Massey said. “One thing for sure when it comes to sustainability is that we need to progress with real pace and we need to be able to measure.” Upfronts and NewFronts blog Tracking the latest TV and digital ad pitches Read more here

Media companies pressed to open up walled gardens in new global charter for advertisers

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