Google has agreed to have its YouTube metrics audited by the Media Rating Council (MRC). The audit will be specifically to review the viewability measurements reported by YouTube’s third-party data collection partners.

The independent audit, of Moat, Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify, ‘will validate that data collection, aggregation and reporting for served video impressions, viewable impressions, related viewability statistics and general invalid traffic (GIVT)’ adhere to MRC and IAB standards across mobile and desktop.

In addition, Google is hoping to achieve MRC accreditation for video impressions and viewability statistics, and GIVT detection, in both AdWords and DoubleClick Bid Manager.

“Measurement has been top of mind in our recent conversations with advertisers, and for good reason,” said Babak Pahlavan, senior director of product management, analytics solutions and measurement at Google, in a blog post. “As we’ve said many times, ‘If you can’t measure it, how do you know it worked?’ Committing to measurement is critical, but just the first step. We believe that that the industry needs metrics that are trusted, transparent and easily verified.”

Recently, Facebook also agreed to an independent audit from the MRC – following on from its admittance to incorrectly reporting key metrics results.