Measurement
Part of Programmatic agency and trading-desk operations
Requesting campaign-level transparency from an agency
Specify the campaign exports, cost definitions, change log and access needed to review an agency-managed programmatic buy.
Request the records that answer four questions: what was bought, what it cost, what changed and what remains unavailable. Agree on the fields, access and delivery dates before the campaign runs. "Full transparency" is too vague to check.
Specify a reproducible campaign pack
Request buying IDs, report period, spend, impressions and the agreed outcome at the level needed for the decision. Add deal or supply-source detail where available and relevant.
For each monetary field, require its definition: media cost, platform charges, a configured client price and agency fees may differ. State currency, report time zone, filters, attribution settings and extraction time.
Keep the export behind any presentation totals. If a summary combines accounts or excludes line items, ask it to identify them. Request a record of material budget, targeting, supplier, deal and measurement changes, with effective times and approval references.
| Question | Evidence to request |
|---|---|
| Where did the budget go? | Spend by stable buying ID and an agreed supply grouping. |
| What was delivered? | Impressions and the relevant outcome for the same period and unit. |
| What changed? | A setting or decision record with owner and effective time. |
| What was charged? | Cost definitions and a route from report fields to invoice lines. |
| What cannot be checked? | A list of unavailable fields and reasons. |
Check the access route
A login is useful only if its role exposes the needed fields. Check the proposed role against the request; a screenshot does not prove complete access.
If direct access is unsuitable, agree on scheduled exports and who can rerun them. Sharing an exported file does not necessarily share the underlying report specification or grant permission to run it. Ask the agency to retain the report specification so later extracts can use the same basis.
Record commercial and report limits
Ask how the actual agreement treats affiliated desk, data and media services, agency charges and any disclosed incentives. The answer depends on the contract; a group relationship alone does not prove that a charge or rebate exists on this campaign.
Campaign-level records also do not necessarily show a complete seller payment trail. If a question needs finer detail, request another reliable source or record the gap.
Set a delivery date and a correction owner. For each unavailable field, record the closest reliable substitute and its limit. Mark a question unresolved where no suitable evidence exists.
