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Who's auditing the metrics? MediaSense did - and Adelaide AU passed

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Ad Tech Attention Effectiveness
Ad Tech Attention Effectiveness Measurement Transparency

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In a market crowded with metrics, claims are easy. Proof is harder. Adelaide engaged MediaSense to independently validate its methodology and confirm that AU delivers

Adelaide believes media quality metrics should be trustworthy, verifiable, and outcome-based. To support this principle, Adelaide engaged MediaSense, a global media advisory firm, to independently validate its methodology and confirm that AU—its attention-based media quality metric—delivers on its promise of predicting meaningful brand outcomes.

What MediaSense Set Out to Evaluate

MediaSense's third-party audit focused on three core questions:

  1. Is AU's scoring methodology appropriate for its objective?
  2. Is Adelaide's AU Curve Methodology robust enough to help advertisers set target AU thresholds based on predicted outcomes? Can MediaSense independently reconstruct AU curves and confirm that higher AU consistently correlates with improved campaign performance?
  3. Can the methodology be used consistently to support outcome-based decisions for Adelaide's clients?

MediaSense conducted a rigorous review that included technical walkthroughs, documentation analysis, and an independent reconstruction of AU curves across four KPIs: Aided Awareness, Familiarity, Recall, and Intent. The aim wasn't just to replicate outputs but to confirm that AU consistently predicts improved outcomes across multiple channels. 

Why This Matters

Brands and media agencies are right to be skeptical of new metrics, especially in an industry crowded with opaque and imprecise solutions. That's why Adelaide asked MediaSense to put its approach to the test.

Attention metrics like AU have the potential to transform how media is measured, valued, and traded, but only if they're substantiated. MediaSense's audit confirmed that AU reliably predicts business outcomes, giving advertisers a credible foundation for smarter investment decisions.

Download the full report here to explore the findings.

By Kaitlin Nizolek, VP, Marketing

Adelaide

Adelaide is the leader in attention-based media quality measurement. Our mission is to bring increased transparency and fairness to advertising by supplying the market with a precise, omnichannel media quality metric connected to business outcomes. Adweek has called Adelaide’s AU "the attention economy’s most widely recognized metric." Proven to predict full-funnel outcomes more accurately than any existing metric, AU helps the world’s largest brands make smarter investment decisions, activate attention data programmatically, and drive better performance. Adelaide is named after the global epicenter of evidence-based marketing in southern Australia and headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit adelaidemetrics.com.

Posted on: Wednesday 8 October 2025