One step forward, two steps back: Media transparency 10 years after the ANA’s K2 report

Media agency concerns persist, and are more complex for advertisers, 10 years after transparency investigation

Ten years after the ANA's K2 report exposed media agency kickbacks, a new ANA survey finds transparency concerns not only persist but have intensified as the media supply chain added programmatic layers, retail media, and AI-driven buying. For marketing and tech leaders, this signals that any adtech or media investment must now include contractual audit rights and supply-path-optimization clauses — without them, measurable budget waste remains structural, not incidental.