Every number carries how much to trust it.

A CPM quoted with no source, no market definition and no date is not evidence. Across Asia Pacific the problem is worse: most widely quoted figures are US or EU numbers with a regional label attached, or vendor marketing restated as research.

Adkeen never hides that uncertainty. Public evidence is published first, with its weaknesses visible, and practitioners who run the media then confirm or challenge it. The grade tells you which of those stages a number has reached.

Every benchmark observation sits on one of five steps. The step is shown on the figure itself, wherever it appears on the site.

1. Step 1 of 5

   Public baseline — awaiting practitioner validation

   Taken from a public, citable source and republished with its methodology and caveats intact. No practitioner has confirmed or disputed it yet. Treat it as a starting reference, not a target.

2. Step 2 of 5

   Practitioner challenged — under review

   At least one practitioner running this media has said the figure does not match what they see. The number stays visible, with the challenge attached, until it is resolved.

3. Step 3 of 5

   Practitioner supported

   One or more practitioners have confirmed the figure is consistent with their own accounts, without enough corroboration yet to call it settled.

4. Step 4 of 5

   Adkeen validated

   Multiple independent practitioner confirmations agree with the public source. The figure has survived contact with real accounts.

5. Step 5 of 5

   Adkeen benchmark

   The strongest grade. Corroborated across independent practitioners and reconciled with public evidence — usable for planning, still open to challenge.

Vendor case studies on MarTech Library profiles are labelled by who actually produced the number, not by how impressive it sounds.

• Third-party validated

  An independent party checked the result after the fact. The strongest tier a case study can carry.

• Third-party measured

  The outcome was measured by an independent measurement provider, not by the vendor's own reporting.

• Client-provided, not vendor-measured

  The advertiser supplied the number. Their own attribution applies, and it was not verified independently.

• Vendor-reported, not independently verified

  The vendor's own claim, republished as a claim. Useful for direction; never treat it as a measurement.

A benchmark is flagged as weak evidence when it is pooled across several markets rather than measured in one, modelled or derived rather than independently sourced, drawn from a small or undisclosed sample, or old enough that auction conditions have moved. Those flags are printed on the card — they are not footnotes.

Where no credible figure exists for a market, channel and metric, Adkeen shows the gap instead of interpolating one. A missing number is information.

Any figure can be challenged by a practitioner, and any challenge is visible next to the number. Benchmarks are meant to be corrected — see the benchmark set or write to the editor.

MarTech Library rankings are never paid for.