ANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark: Q2 2026 Working-Media Efficiency Reaches a Record 45%

TrueCPM Index reveals a 52.5% optimization opportunity for lower-performing advertisers, compared with 33.8% for higher performers

NEW YORK, August 6, 2026 — The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) today released its Q2 2026 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark, showing that working-media efficiency reached a new high as market-level TrueAdSpend rose to 45.1%.

The TrueAdSpend Index measures the share of programmatic investment that reaches measurable, viewable, fraud-free, and non-MFA impressions — defined by the Benchmark as TrueImpressions. The Q2 result increased 1.8 percentage points from 43.3% in Q1 2026.

The improvement was driven primarily by stronger media productivity. Non-viewable spend declined from 13.3% to 10.1%, while invalid traffic remained near zero at 0.1%. Transaction costs increased to 27.2%, partially offsetting the gains in impression quality.

“The record TrueAdSpend result demonstrates that advertisers can convert more of their investment into quality media when they actively manage measurement, viewability, fraud, MFA exposure, price, and supply,” said Tim Brown, CEO of Fiducia. “The next opportunity is to apply those disciplines more consistently, reduce waste, and close the gap between the impressions advertisers buy and the TrueImpressions they receive.”

A Significant Performance Divide Remains

Higher-performing advertisers converted 52.3% of programmatic spend into TrueImpressions, compared with 31.1% for lower-performing advertisers. The resulting 21.2-percentage-point difference demonstrates that measurement coverage, media quality, and supply-chain management remain important differentiators in programmatic performance.

Non-measurable inventory was the largest source of media-productivity loss and a major contributor to the performance divide. Lower-performing advertisers lost 22.7% of spend to non-measurable inventory — more than twice the 10.4% recorded by higher performers.

Compared with lower-performing advertisers, the higher-performing cohort:

• converted substantially more spend into TrueImpressions;

• lost less than half as much spend to non-measurable inventory;

• operated across approximately 19,000 fewer domains and apps; and

• maintained a more concentrated and carefully curated supply footprint.

TrueCPM Index Quantifies the Optimization Opportunity

The Q2 results demonstrate why advertisers must evaluate CPM and TrueCPM together.

CPM reflects the cost of every thousand impressions purchased. TrueCPM reflects the effective cost of every thousand impressions that satisfy the Benchmark’s quality requirements and qualify as TrueImpressions: measurable, viewable, fraud-free, and non-MFA.

The delta between CPM and TrueCPM represents the TrueCPM optimization opportunity. The TrueCPM Index expresses that difference as a percentage of TrueCPM, quantifying the share of cost that can be recovered by eliminating impressions that fail to meet TrueImpression quality requirements. Closing the gap completely would mean that every purchased impression qualifies as a TrueImpression.

Lower-performing advertisers paid a lower average CPM of $6.55, compared with $7.90 for higher performers. However, after adjusting for media quality, lower performers incurred a TrueCPM of $13.80, compared with $11.94 for higher performers.

For lower-performing advertisers, the $7.25 difference between CPM and TrueCPM represents a total TrueCPM optimization opportunity of 52.5%. For higher-performing advertisers, the $4.04 difference represents an opportunity of 33.8%.

The findings reveal the full story behind headline CPM. Although lower-performing advertisers initially purchased impressions at a lower price, a substantially greater proportion of that value was lost when the impressions were assessed against TrueImpression standards.

The goal is not simply to reduce TrueCPM. It is to close the gap between CPM and TrueCPM by ensuring that a greater share of purchased impressions meets all quality requirements. Narrowing that gap allows advertisers to generate more TrueImpressions from the same investment.

What’s New This Quarter

• TrueAdSpend Reaches a Record High: Market-level TrueAdSpend increased from 43.3% in Q1 to 45.1% in Q2 2026.

• Viewability Improves: Non-viewable spend declined from 13.3% to 10.1%, helping improve overall media productivity.

• Invalid Traffic Remains Near Zero: Spend lost to invalid traffic held at 0.1%.

• Transaction Costs Increase: Transaction costs rose to 27.2%, partially offsetting improvements in impression quality.

• The Performance Divide Persists: Higher-performing advertisers converted 52.3% of spend into TrueImpressions, compared with 31.1% among lower performers.

• The TrueCPM Index Reveals a Significant Opportunity: The CPM-to-TrueCPM delta represents a 52.5% optimization opportunity for lower-performing advertisers, compared with 33.8% for higher performers.

• Supply Concentration Matters: Higher performers operated across approximately 19,000 fewer domains and apps, reinforcing the relationship between carefully curated supply and stronger outcomes.

• CTV Remains the Largest Environment: Connected TV accounted for 41.6% of tracked spend, underscoring the need for consistent measurement and transparency across CTV supply.

Turning Transparency Into Results

The Q2 findings show that improving programmatic performance requires advertisers to manage price and quality together. Reducing non-measurable inventory, improving viewability, limiting fraud and MFA exposure, scrutinizing transaction costs, and concentrating supply can all help increase TrueImpressions and reduce the CPM-to-TrueCPM delta.

The report also demonstrates how advertisers can turn Benchmark insights into measurable results. Kimberly-Clark reduced its TrueCPM by 31.4% and increased TrueImpressions per dollar by 45.7% through impression-level transparency and active optimization.

Developed in partnership with TAG TrustNet and Fiducia, the ANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark provides quarterly, impression-level insights into programmatic media cost, quality, and performance. Built on log-level data from leading advertisers and platforms, the Benchmark helps marketers identify waste, improve media quality, and strengthen outcomes across web, mobile, and CTV environments.

Access the Q2 2026 report here: Q2 2026 report 

For more information about participating in the ANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark, visit www.fiducia.eco/benchmark or contact programmatic@ana.net.

ABOUT THE ANA

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is the definitive voice of the marketing industry. Since 1910, the ANA has set and advanced the agenda for marketing transformation, connecting more than 1,600 member companies to an influential global network of insights and resources that drive growth. ANA members represent 20,000 brands and $400 billion in annual marketing investment. Through industry-leading research, the CMO Growth Council, and the ANA Growth Agenda, the ANA empowers marketers to shape the future of marketing and create lasting impact for their organizations and the industry.

ABOUT TAG TRUSTNET

Launched by TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group), the global certification program working to strengthen safety and transparency in digital advertising, and developed in partnership with technology provider Fiducia, TAG TrustNet is the always-on industry utility for connecting and matching impression-level log data at scale. As a global, cross-industry initiative, TAG TrustNet automates the reconciliation of impression-level data across the supply chain and generates a unified record for every ad impression, made available in near real time.