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IAB Media Credit System


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OVERVIEW:
For years, offline publishers have worked together to understand the perceived risk of their customers through a credit information gathering service. The IAB Media Credit System ("MCS") is a credit and collections tool for online publishers that CFOs, controllers, risk and collections managers, and even salespeople use to better manage their account receivables, set better credit terms, research new and current advertisers and agencies, and benchmark their collections in relation to the industry.

But MCS goes beyond just the data. MCS companies form the largest online advertising financial community in the world and, along with the IAB, they create and attend quarterly Solution Summits that help the industry not only identify, but also solve, publishers’ common credit and collections problems.

You may download a detailed explanation of the system and its features here.

For a list of companies currently subscribing to the Media Credit System, please click here.

HOW MCS WORKS:
As with other credit information gathering services, the IAB Media Credit System requires publisher participation. Publishers provide aging reports to the IAB via confidential and secure channels. The system then combines this information using a series of procedures that ensures accuracy. No publisher specific data is ever viewable. MCS provides calculations on this data to measure industry-benchmarking statistics including Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and over 90-day A/R figures. View screen shot of a sample report.

BENEFITS:
At the core of the Media Credit System (MCS) is a web-enabled software solution that assists credit and collections professionals in the assessment of risk associated with selling to agencies and direct advertiser accounts. MCS provides participating companies with a system that:

  • Enables aging information gathering and aggregation
  • Furnishes risk-management analysis tools including deep and broad historical aging data for advertisers and agencies (by office)
  • Aids in the management of relationships with agencies and advertisers
  • Compares industry benchmarks to outstanding balances by account

One of the biggest benefits of becoming a member of MCS, however, is the Solution Summit held each quarter that only MCS participants are invited to attend. The Summits are a chance for financial experts to come together, share best practices, discuss common issues, and, most importantly, help the IAB set an agenda for solving the issues. The IAB is the only organization that can truly facilitate change in the relationship between publisher and agency/advertiser, and that is the real advantage of being an MCS member.

PRIVACY POLICY:
The IAB recognizes the sensitive nature of this information and the need for confidentiality and security. All information submitted by a participating company to MCS is held strictly confidential, and the reports made available to MCS members by the IAB will never identify a company as the source of any information (as further set forth in the MCS Terms of Service).