What does the ANA programmatic transparency study measure?
Part of MFA avoidance
The short answer
The ANA programmatic transparency study measures where advertisers' programmatic money goes, using log-level data shared by participating marketers. It began as a 2023 study of 21 advertisers and became a quarterly benchmark. Its MFA, cost and quality figures describe those participants' own campaigns, not the whole market, so every citation should name the edition and the sample.
Key takeaways
- The series has two parts: the 2023 study of 21 ANA members and a quarterly benchmark built with TAG TrustNet from early 2024.
- The latest public edition, released May 27, 2026, reported MFA exposure of 1.1 percent in Q1 2026 after 0.4 to 0.6 percent throughout 2025.
- An MFA percentage counts spend or impressions on domains classified as MFA within participants' log-level data, and averages and medians can differ.
- A correct citation names the quarter, the release date, the measure and the fact that it describes benchmark participants.
What does the ANA programmatic transparency study measure?
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) uses one name for a series of projects. Each follows advertiser money from the moment it enters a demand side platform to the impression a person sees, using log-level data: the impression by impression records that buying platforms, exchanges and verification companies keep. That lets the ANA measure fees, wasted impressions and the kinds of sites that received spend, instead of surveying what marketers believe happened.
The first project, the Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study, opened with a First Look released June 19, 2023 (opens in a new tab). Twenty-one ANA member companies took part, and the data covered September 2022 to January 2023, $123 million in ad spending and 35.5 billion impressions on the open web. The complete report followed on December 5, 2023 (opens in a new tab) with 21 marketers and 12 supply chain companies, three of them buying platforms, six sell side platforms and three verification companies.
The ANA's programmatic transparency hub (opens in a new tab) describes the follow-on Programmatic Transparency Benchmark as launched in early 2024 with TAG TrustNet. Members reconcile and analyze their own log-level data, and aggregated results are released each quarter. The Q1 2026 release (opens in a new tab) says the benchmark covers cost, quality, measurement coverage, viewability, supply concentration and quality control practices across web, mobile and connected TV.
| Edition | Public release | Sample described in the release | Headline measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study, First Look | June 19, 2023 | 21 ANA members; September 2022 to January 2023; $123 million; 35.5 billion impressions | Waste in open web programmatic; the average campaign ran on 44,000 websites |
| Study, complete report | December 5, 2023 | 21 marketers and 12 supply chain companies | 36 percent of each dollar entering a buying platform reached the consumer |
| 2024 benchmark study | December 12, 2024 | Participating marketers; number not given in the release | 43.9 percent of every $1,000 entering a buying platform reached consumers |
| Q3 2025 benchmark | November 5, 2025 | Participants; number not given in the release | TrueAdSpend of 39 percent; MFA at 0.39 percent of spend |
| Q1 2026 benchmark | May 27, 2026 | Participating marketers increased from 54 to 86 | TrueAdSpend Index of 43.3 percent; MFA exposure of 1.1 percent |
What did the latest public ANA benchmark report?
The latest public edition is the Q1 2026 benchmark, released May 27, 2026. In the ANA's words, MFA exposure increased to 1.1 percent in Q1 2026 after remaining between 0.4 and 0.6 percent throughout 2025, with the report identifying AI slop as an emerging subtype requiring ongoing mitigation. The market-level TrueAdSpend Index rebounded to 43.3 percent in Q1 2026, and participating marketers increased from 54 to 86 in Q1 2026.
The same release splits participants into higher and lower performing groups. Higher performers converted 54.0 percent of programmatic spend into qualified impressions and lower performers 32.1 percent, a 21.9 point gap the ANA calls the largest the benchmark has recorded. Transaction costs differed by only 2.4 points between the groups, while losses in media productivity differed by 19.4 points.
| Figure | Value in the May 27, 2026 release | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| MFA exposure | 1.1 percent, up from 0.4 to 0.6 percent in 2025 | Share of participants' measured programmatic activity on MFA inventory |
| TrueAdSpend Index | 43.3 percent | Share of investment delivering fraud-free, measurable, viewable and MFA-free impressions |
| Qualified impressions by cohort | 54.0 percent for higher performers, 32.1 percent for lower performers | The spread between participant groups, not a market average |
What does an MFA spend percentage actually count?
An MFA percentage in this series is a share of something inside participants' log-level data: either spend or impressions on domains the analysis classified as made for advertising. It is not a count of MFA websites, and it is not the share of all online ad money. The 2023 study reported both versions side by side. When the trade groups published their shared MFA definition (opens in a new tab) on September 26, 2023, the ANA said MFA sites comprise 21 percent of impressions and 15 percent of ad spend in that study.
Definition
- TrueAdSpend
- The ANA's Q4 2025 release (opens in a new tab) defines it as the share of total programmatic investment that delivers impressions meeting preset quality criteria: fraud-free, measurable, viewable and MFA-free. MFA is one of four filters, so a TrueAdSpend change can come from any of them.
Averages and medians tell different stories. The December 12, 2024 release (opens in a new tab) reported average MFA spend falling from 15 percent in 2023 to 6.2 percent, and the median from 10 percent to 1.1 percent. A few participants with heavy MFA exposure can hold the average well above the median participant. None of the public releases publishes the list of domains classified as MFA, so a reader cannot rebuild the classification from the press text.
| Measure | Where it appears | What the denominator is |
|---|---|---|
| MFA share of impressions | 2023 study: 21 percent | All impressions in the study's log-level data |
| MFA share of spend, average | 2023 study: 15 percent; 2024 benchmark: 6.2 percent | Spend, averaged across participants |
| MFA share of spend, median | 2023 study: 10 percent; 2024 benchmark: 1.1 percent | The middle participant's share of spend |
| MFA exposure | Q1 2026 benchmark: 1.1 percent | The release does not define the denominator beyond participants' measured activity |
Why does a benchmark participant result not describe every buyer?
The benchmark's participants chose to join, share log-level data and reconcile it through TAG TrustNet. The sample is self selected, so its results may differ from those of advertisers who have not measured their own campaigns. The ANA frames the findings as describing participating marketers.
The sample also changes. Participation grew from 54 to 86 marketers in Q1 2026, the same quarter MFA exposure rose to 1.1 percent. The release does not say how much of the change came from new participants and how much from existing ones, so a reader should not treat the quarterly line as one fixed group moving over time. Scale matters too: the 2023 First Look covered $123 million of spend, while the same release put the open web programmatic market at $88 billion.
How should a buyer cite the ANA figures?
Five steps for citing an ANA benchmark figure
- Open the ANA hub first. The programmatic transparency page (opens in a new tab) lists editions in order, so you can see whether a newer one exists.
- Cite the public release, not a gated report. Link the press release under ana.net/content/show, which anyone can open, and give its release date.
- Name the quarter and the measure. Write MFA exposure in Q1 2026, or MFA share of spend in the 2023 study, never just the MFA rate.
- Say who it describes. Add among benchmark participants, or among the 21 advertisers in the 2023 study.
- Keep superseded figures as history. The 15 percent and 0.39 percent figures are real, but name their year or quarter and do not present them as current.
| Claim | Overstated version | Version that matches the release |
|---|---|---|
| Current MFA level | MFA is now 1.1 percent of programmatic spend. | Among ANA benchmark participants, MFA exposure was 1.1 percent in Q1 2026 (ANA, May 27, 2026). |
| 2023 baseline | MFA sites take 15 percent of ad budgets. | In the ANA's 2023 study of 21 advertisers, MFA sites took 15 percent of spend and 21 percent of impressions. |
Before an ANA figure goes into a deck or proposal
- The figure comes from the newest public release on the ANA hub, or is labeled as history.
- The link opens without an ANA sign-in.
- The quarter or year and the release date appear next to the number.
- The wording says benchmark participants or study advertisers.
- Average and median are not mixed in the same comparison.
What does a careful citation look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
A Quebec maple products brand prepares its quarterly review
A fictional maple syrup and maple butter producer in the Eastern Townships asks its Montreal agency for a French and English review of its Quebec display buying before the holiday baking season. The brand manager's draft slide says MFA sites take 15 percent of programmatic budgets, a line copied from an old trade article.
The planner opens the ANA hub, sees that the newest public release is the Q1 2026 benchmark, and rewrites the slide: among ANA benchmark participants, MFA exposure was 1.1 percent in Q1 2026, after 0.4 to 0.6 percent throughout 2025. The 2023 figure moves to a footnote labeled as the 2023 study of 21 advertisers.
A second slide explains why the agency still screens every site on the Quebec list before the flight: the benchmark describes participants who measured their own campaigns, and the brand has not measured its own. Both slides link the public ANA releases with their dates.
How does PlacementGraph help a team act on MFA findings before buying?
Benchmark figures describe money already spent. Keeping MFA inventory off a plan has to happen before the flight starts.
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone read the full ANA benchmark reports?
No. The press releases on ana.net are public, but the full findings reports for recent quarters sit behind an ANA sign-in. For public writing, cite the press release, which carries the headline figures and the release date, and link the ANA's programmatic transparency hub for the list of editions.
Can an advertiser compare its own MFA share with the benchmark?
Only when it measures the same way. The benchmark works from reconciled log-level data and applies fixed quality criteria. An advertiser using a different MFA list, period or denominator will get a number that looks comparable but is not, so it should state its own method beside its own figure.
Why did MFA exposure rise in Q1 2026?
The May 27, 2026 release identifies AI slop as an emerging MFA subtype requiring ongoing mitigation. The same quarter, participants grew from 54 to 86 marketers. The public release does not split the change between those factors, so a careful summary reports both facts without assigning the rise to either one.
Does the ANA benchmark cover connected TV?
Yes. The Q1 2026 release describes quarterly, impression-level insights across web, mobile and connected TV. The Q4 2025 release adds that private marketplaces accounted for 100 percent of CTV transactions among participants. The 2023 MFA definition describes websites.
Sources
- ANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark Reveals Widening Gap Between Top and Bottom Advertisers (Q1 2026) (opens in a new tab)ANA, May 27, 2026
- ANA Media Practice: Programmatic Transparency (opens in a new tab)ANA
- ANA Provides First Look at In-depth Programmatic Media Transparency Study (opens in a new tab)ANA, June 19, 2023
- ANA Releases Part 2 of Comprehensive Programmatic Media Buying Study (opens in a new tab)ANA, December 5, 2023
- Leading Trade Groups Define Made For Advertising Websites (opens in a new tab)ANA, September 26, 2023
- ANA Releases 2024 Programmatic Benchmark Study (opens in a new tab)ANA, December 12, 2024
- The ANA Q3 2025 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark (opens in a new tab)ANA, November 5, 2025
- ANA Q4 2025 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark (opens in a new tab)ANA, February 25, 2026
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.