I’m pleased to announce that adCenter and the Atlas Media Console have received accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC), indicating our compliance with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)’s Click Measurement Guidelines and the MRC’s Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research.

This is the first year for click measurement standards accreditation, and Microsoft is one of the industry’s first companies to receive this endorsement. The accreditation of adCenter and the Atlas Media Console demonstrates Microsoft’s dedication to adhering to IAB industry standard ad measurement practices. Our compliance with these standards helps to ensure that advertisers don’t get charged for invalid or fraudulent clicks.

The Atlas Media Console is a suite of tools that enables agencies and advertisers to conduct all facets of digital marketing from media buys and creative assignment to campaign execution and analytics. Atlas Media Console has also attained MRC accreditation of impressions for the fourth year running.

“MRC accreditation is incredibly important to Microsoft Advertising, providing assurance to the online advertising community that we are completely aligning with IAB’s standards for clicks,” said Robin Domeniconi, vice president, US Advertising, Publishing & Marketing.  “This is further demonstration of our dedication to being a strategic partner by improving transparency, accuracy and reliability as it relates to click quality and measurement.  We want our advertisers to be able to make informed decisions about their campaigns.”

George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the MRC said, “Microsoft continues to be a leader in seeking compliance with Industry standards and has again demonstrated this with MRC Accreditation of the click measurements of adCenter and the Atlas Media Console applications.  These applications were subjected to rigorous MRC audit and the evaluation of our audit committee and are in compliance with both the MRC Standards and the IAB Click Measurement Guidelines.  We applaud this effort and the transparency and assurance that Microsoft’s commitment has brought to the Industry.”