• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, February 22, 2017

Google has agreed to have an official agency audit the metrics and technology integrated by third-party companies into YouTube’s Web site and mobile applications.

The Media Rating Council (MRC) will audit the way DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science and Moat, three independent metrics companies collect data, measuring whether or not video ads are viewable on YouTube and the length of time they are viewed.

Google said each audit of the integrations will validate data collection, aggregation and reporting for served video impressions, viewable impressions, related viewability statistics and general invalid traffic  across desktop and mobile, making sure they adhere to MRC and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards.

The plan also will be to have the MRC audit data for Google-partner sites that purchase advertisements from AdWords and DoubleClick Bid Manager.

YouTube has been reluctant to implement third-party tracking cookies from vendors and advertisers, and its agency partners are concerned that the data is inaccurate.

Recently, Facebook also said it would allow the MRC to audit its ad metrics following a few recent missteps in which the company admitted it miscalculated some of its ad metrics.

On Tuesday, Google also said it received MRCl accreditation for video impressions and viewable statistics for desktop and mobile Web, as well as mobile apps in DoubleClick Campaign Manager as it works on gaining MRC accreditation for third-party companies that integrate their technology.