AOL Selects ABC Interactive for Ad Audits

America Online signed ABC Interactive, the interactive auditing unit of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), for independent ongoing audits of advertisements delivered on both its proprietary service and its Web site.

The initial audit reviewed AOL’s ad delivery and record-keeping systems and found them to fairly represent actual activity, AOL said. As a result, for the month of May, there are no adjustments necessary to AOL data.

The audits include two sets of proprietary information:

1. A summary Audit Report, confirming that total ad impressions served, recorded and reported via AOL’s internal measurement system are reliable and in compliance with industry-developed standards. The report measured over 2.5 billion impressions on the AOL service and over 720 million impressions on AOL.com.
2. Advertiser-Specific Audit Reports, verifying delivery of individual advertisements, providing independent activity reports to advertisers on particular campaigns, including impressions served, click-throughs and click- through ratios.

ABC Interactive is a third-party auditor for Web sites, search engines, email delivery systems, chat rooms and Internet broadcasters. The company developed a customized audit for AOL that verifies advertising activity, including total and average page impressions, and click-throughs. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.

The summary reports for May are now posted on ABC Interactive’s Web site here. Subsequent summary reports will be released quarterly.