NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> third party auditing
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> third party auditing
BRAD.CHIN_at_EY.COM
Fri, 17 Oct 1997 13:16:03 -0400
Josh McCormack wrote:
>> Auditing is a scam, but something people demand. Considering most are just
taking log files and making them pretty, this is nothing more than expensive DTP
sold as auditing. The only alternative I can imagine is hooking up with
an ad network, which tracks the users itself.<<
I agree with Josh to a certain degree regarding third party
auditing. I believe that in order for an audit to be
effective, it needs to be more substantial than just just a
verification, or recreation of log reports by a third party.
But there is an alternative.... We perform 'certification
audits' surrounding the "process" of web advertising
counting and reporting. We have various procedures enable
us to determine if the environment is conducive to an
effective process, which can significantly lower the risk of
erroroneous counts. The end result is a co-branded logo
available to that site's advertisers and a certification
excerpt detailing procedures performed.
We are in the final stages of certifying Yahoo! Inc.'s site.
More info regarding this project can be found at
http:www.ey.com/press/releases/040897.htm. As the web
quickly grows and more $$$ are invested in web advertising,
the greater need for a set audit standard arises. All it
will take is one site to intentially defraud advertisers for
an 'web audit' to be required. Just like the stock market
in 1929??
Brad Chin
Ernst and Young LLP
brad.chin_at_ey.com
