China Advertising Association (CAA) and the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) – an advertising industry self-regulatory initiative to fight criminal activity and promote brand safety in the digital advertising supply chain – today launched TAG’s international standards in the Chinese market.

Building on the initial TAG-CAA collaboration from April 2020, the standards – in particular TAG’s Certified Against Fraud certification – will provide companies in China with a robust certification and with it the tools required to combat ad fraud in digital advertising. The anti-fraud standard has been localized to include compliance with China National Standards GBT34092.2 – 2017 – Interactive Advertising – Delivery Monitor Requirements (China National IVT Standard). Companies can still use the Media Rating Council’s (MRC) GIVT guidelines if they choose to. TAG and CAA are currently working towards including Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT) in the standard by 2022.

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TAG’s Certified Against Fraud standard is already having a significant impact on reducing ad fraud in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in the USA and key markets in Europe, with rates over 90% lower when advertisers use TAG certified distribution channels compared to industry averages.

Subject to TAG’s working processes, independent validation of the anti-fraud standard will be mandatory for businesses operating in China. Self-attestation will not be an option. China Digital Advertising Technology Laboratory (CDA Tech Lab) – a joint initiative between CAA and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) – will offer independent validation services, along with existing providers.

In addition to TAG’s Certified Against Fraud program, companies will be able minimize the risk of ad misplacement via TAG’s Brand Safety certification and work together to combat threats to the digital advertising supply chain – such as malware – via TAG’s Threat Sharing Exchange.

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Zhang Guo Hua, Chairman of China Advertising Association, said: “Building on our collaboration with TAG, CAA is delighted to launch these standards in China to help tackle criminal activity and promote brand safety in digital advertising. We believe this is an important development and – underpinned with independent validation – will make a real difference to the quality of digital advertising in China. CAA encourages its member companies to take this step.”

Mike Zaneis, President & CEO of TAG, said: “TAG’s work with CAA in bringing these standards to China adjusts measures to local conditions whilst – at the same time – leveraging an approach that is consistent for businesses operating both in China and beyond. It is CAA’s pragmatic leadership that has made this a reality and TAG will continue to help to meet the challenges.”