TAG sees its ad tech verification program aimed at cleaning up digital advertising grow rapidly

The industry group formed to secure and weed out fraud in the digital advertising supply chain says it has seen a jump in companies interested in joining the program over the past few months.

More than 350 companies have now applied for verification registrations by the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), with an application increase of more than 75 percent in just the past three months. Applicants represent 26 countries on six continents, the group said in a blog post Monday.

Applicants undergo a proprietary background check and review process driven by Dun & Bradstreet before they can be approved by TAG. Once approved, companies can be verified by other companies in the ecosystem by name or by their unique, persistent TAG-IDs in the TAG Registry.

“In less than three years, TAG has established itself as the preeminent global organization fighting crime and increasing transparency in digital advertising, and we are aggressively building out TAG’s staff and infrastructure to support our growing program and member needs,” said Mike Zaneis, CEO of TAG.

With the growth, TAG is adding staffing in several key roles. Michael Hahn, who serves as general counsel for the IAB, is joining TAG in that same capacity. Last month, TAG hired Bonnie Niederstrasser as to serve as director of policy and programs and Dominique Matthews as manager of operations and compliance.

TAG’s recent efforts include launching a tool to stop ads from showing on apps that pirate content and granting its first set of “Certified Against Malware” seals to nine ad tech companies.