The ANA Releases Q1 2025 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark Study

​The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has released the findings of its Q1 2025 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark Study, revealing continued progress—and persistent inefficiencies—in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. The study shows that marketers directed 41% of programmatic budgets to effective ad impressions in Q1 2025, up from 36% in the 2023 study. The TrueCPM Index, introduced in this benchmark and serves as a key metric to track the effectiveness of programmatic investments, identified an average 37.8% optimisation gap, indicating that over a third of open web ad spending still goes toward impressions that don’t meet standard quality metrics, which translates to an estimated $21.6 billion in unrealised global media value.

Key findings from the Q1 2025 Benchmark Study include:

TrueAdSpend Index: 41% of programmatic ad spend delivered impressions meeting quality standards, a six-point improvement from 2023.

• Introducing the TrueCPM Index: The study found a 37.8% optimisation opportunity across participants, equating to $21.6 billion in unrealised global media value. This new metric is calculated by dividing the total spend by only those impressions that meet quality standards (non-IVT, measurable, viewable), allowing marketers to better value their programmatic investment.
• MFA Reduction: Ad spend on Made for Advertising (MFA) website inventory dropped from 15% in 2023 to just 0.4%, marking a substantial quality gain.
• Supply Partner Consolidation Still Lags: Median number of supply partners used increased from 14 to 19, showing that marketers have not yet streamlined to preferred partners.
• Long-Tail Publisher Growth: The median number of domains and apps used grew from 22,634 to 53,799; however, 90.3% of impressions were concentrated on the top 3,000 domains, highlighting a long-tail effect.
• CTV Improvements: Connected TV (CTV) accounted for 30% of programmatic spend, up from 28% in Q4 2024. Median measurability rose to 64.1%, and viewability improved to 21.4%, despite fragmentation challenges. 75% of spend was delivered across the top 20 main platforms and service providers.

“This latest benchmark report shows progress in identifying inefficiencies, but there remains significant room for improvement,” said Bob Liodice, CEO of the ANA. He added, “Implementing the ANA’s recommendations—such as reducing the number of supply path partners and tightening domain lists—can substantially enhance these outcomes.”

Launched in 2024, the ANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark builds on the 2023 Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study, which revealed that $22 billion in open web ad spend could be better optimised. The Benchmark initiative is designed to provide marketers with deeper visibility and control by analysing impression-level log data (LLD).

Developed in partnership with TAG TrustNet and Fiducia, the same LLD platform provider used in the 2023 study, the initiative aims to eliminate data asymmetry and provide marketers with the same access to LLD as their supply chain partners.

Read more here.