Discrepancy Reports compare impressions measured by the Upwave tag against impressions served by your ad server (from your impression reporting) to confirm that measurement is working as expected.

By monitoring variance between these two sources, Discrepancy Reports help identify:

• Placements that have not been tagged (such as newly rotated units)

• Over-tracking or under-tracking placements

• Pixel drop-offs

• Non-expanding macros

Discrepancy Reports help identify implementation issues early, before they meaningfully impact measurement quality, results, or usage. Specifically:

1. Missed measurement: If placements have not been tagged, you risk missed measurement and under-representation for certain audiences. Impressions that the Upwave tag has not seen cannot be backfilled, which is why it is important to catch these issues as early as possible.

2. Control contamination: If placements are not tagged, Upwave cannot identify those impressions as “exposed.” As a result, respondents who should be classified as exposed may instead be bucketed under the control group.

3. Exposed contamination: If an incorrect tag is implemented (for example, a tag from a different campaign), respondents may be incorrectly bucketed as "exposed" for that other campaign (assuming it is live or launching).

4. Impacted results: Improper implementation can lead to over-representation or under-representation, inflated reach, and difficulty reaching minimum respondent thresholds for overall or cut-level reads. Any of these outcomes can materially impact reported results.

5. Over usage: Depending on your contract, tracking more impressions than intended may result in reaching your contracted volume sooner than expected.

Discrepancy Reports run automatically once both of the following conditions are met:

1. Media is live

   1. Discrepancy Reports require at least 3 days of data within the last 7 days in order to run.

   2. The Media Start Date on your Campaign Information Form should reflect your intended launch date.

      1. This date tells our system when media is expected to be live.

      2. If media is delayed, the start date should be updated before the Upwave measurement study goes live.

2. Impression reporting is correctly configured from your ad server

   1. If your tags are CM360-integrated, please see our instructions here: CM360 Ad Server Reporting

   2. If your tags are not CM360-integrated, please see our instructions here: Non-CM360-Integrated Ad Server Reporting

Once these conditions are met, Discrepancy Reports will be delivered to those designated to receive Ad Ops notifications on your Campaign Information Form.

Once Discrepancy Reports are enabled, they can be found in two locations:

When issues are flagged, your Ad Ops contacts will receive an “Action Required | Upwave Discrepancy Report” email notification, with the Discrepancy Report attached.

Discrepancy Reports run any time a correctly configured report is delivered to the tag’s designated reporting email.

If a Discrepancy Report is available for your tag, you will be able to click on the “Current Status” for that tag on your Tag Management page (Fig. 1).

This will bring you to a summary page (Fig. 2), with the downloadable report at the bottom.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

You can quickly understand the current state of your Discrepancy Report by checking the Current Status field on the Tag Management page (Fig. 1 above). This reflects the most recent attempt to run a Discrepancy Report for that media platform.

Possible statuses:

If a report cannot be processed, Upwave will contact the Ad Ops contacts designated for that campaign.

Remember:

1. Discrepancy Reports are unique per Media Platform: If you have multiple tags on a campaign (applicable to non-CM360-integrated campaigns only), you will have multiple Discrepancy Reports. When applicable, ensure you are reviewing the report for the correct Media Platform.

2. Discrepancy Reports include 3-7 days of data: Reports compare impressions from the most recent week to ensure alerts are actionable. Always refer to the Date Range to understand the comparison period.

Once you have received your Discrepancy Report, open the Excel spreadsheet attached to the notification email or downloaded from your Tag Management page.

The spreadsheet contains five tabs. Each tab provides a different level of detail to help you review and troubleshoot discrepancies.

Provides a link back to this Help Center article for reference while reviewing your Discrepancy Report.

Displays high-level details for the Discrepancy Report, including:

1. Campaign: General campaign details, such as flight dates and Ad Ops contacts.

2. Event Tag: Information for the tag the Discrepancy Report was run for.

3. Report Summary: The comparison period and discrepancy threshold (Upwave’s default is ±15%).

4. Impressions Measured vs. Impressions Served: Measured impressions reflect the Upwave tag, while served impressions reflect your ad server reporting.

5. Issue Count: Snapshot view of the issues identified in the Discrepancy Report.

This tab provides a cumulative view of each placement’s behavior across the full comparison period.

Used to answer questions like:

1. Which placements require attention?

2. Which discrepancies have the largest volume and should be prioritized first?

3. Have certain placements stabilized recently?

A placement will return "Issues Found" only if:

1. Measured or Served impressions exceed 1K, and

2. The cumulative discrepancy exceeds ±15%

Note: If a placement appears to have ended or stabilized in recent days, it will return "No Issues / Monitor" instead. This is intentional and is meant to keep the summary focused on placements that are actively showing issues, rather than placements that were outside threshold earlier in the comparison window but have since stabilized.

You can see that logic in action below. In Fig. 3 (on the "Placement Summary for Period" tab), Placement 2 shows "No Issues / Monitor" because the most recent days in Fig. 4 (on the "Placement Daily Summary" tab) are stable.

Fig. 3: "Placement Summary for Period" tab: No Issues / Monitor (Stabilized Recently)

Fig. 4: "Placement Daily Summary" tab: Issues Found Earlier, No Issues in Recent Days

This tab helps you evaluate how discrepancies have evolved over time for each placement, shown on a per-day basis.

Used to answer questions like:

1. When did discrepancies begin or end for a specific placement?

2. Are certain dates driving the discrepancy?

3. Is the issue improving or worsening over time?

This tab helps you understand whether specific creatives are contributing to discrepancies within each placement, shown on a per-day basis.

Used to answer questions like:

1. Are certain creatives driving the discrepancy?

2. Are certain dates driving the discrepancy?

3. Is the discrepancy isolated to one creative, or consistent across several?

Once a Discrepancy Report identifies issues, the goal is to quickly isolate which placements require attention and determine whether action is still needed.

Use the checklist below to prioritize your troubleshooting:

1. Identify affected placements: On the Placement Summary for Period tab, filter the Status column for Issues Found. This isolates placements that exceeded discrepancy thresholds during the report’s Date Range.

2. Prioritize the largest variances first: If many placements are flagged, focus on those highlighted in red, as these represent the largest discrepancies and should receive the highest priority.

3. Focus on the biggest contributors: Sort the Discrepancy # column in descending order. This surfaces the placements contributing the most variance, allowing you to address the most impactful issues first.

4. Validate whether the issue is ongoing: Filter for discrepant units on the Placement Daily Summary tab to determine whether the discrepancy is still occurring or has already resolved.

5. Narrow down to the creative level: If variance persists, review the Creative Daily Summary tab. This helps determine whether specific creatives within a placement are driving the discrepancy.

6. Look for patterns across placements: Return to the Placement Summary for Period tab and compare impacted placements against those without issues. Look for shared characteristics such as:

   1. Media type (for example, video vs display)

   2. Publisher or partner

   3. Ad unit type (for example, added value or companion banners)

Once these initial insights are established, proceed with the troubleshooting steps outlined in the Error Category Guide above.

If you’ve reviewed the report and applied the troubleshooting steps but still have questions or unresolved discrepancies, our Support team is here to help.

To contact Support:

1. Log in to the Upwave platform.

2. Click Get Help and submit a request to the Support team.

3. When prompted, select Tagging & Tag Troubleshooting to ensure your request is routed correctly.

To help us resolve your issue as efficiently as possible, please include:

1. The Upwave tag code that was implemented

2. The ad server where the tag was implemented

3. Screenshots showing the tag implementation

4. A test or preview page, if available

A member of the Support team will review your request and follow up within 48 hours (or sooner!).