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, e-mail
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.