It is very common to see discrepancies in reporting between Pontiac and a Third-Party Provider, whether it be through Creative Tags or Third-Party Pixels (trackers). The following steps to investigate and troubleshoot a discrepancy:

1. Double-check that the time timezone in the Pontiac report matches the timezone in the third-party report. The Pontiac default timezone is UTC, but you can verify the timezone for your seat in the ‘Admin’ tab under ‘Seat Settings’.
2. Verify that the reports you’re comparing contain data from the same date range.
3. Make sure you know how each ad server counts the activity you’re comparing (impressions or clicks). Pontiac counts an impression when the creative is rendered. For video ads, an impression takes place when the first frame of the video is loaded. If the third-party counts their impressions differently (for example, when a third-party imp tracker loads on the page) the numbers are not directly comparable.
4. Verify that the objects for which you’re pulling data (for example a Line Item, Creative, or Advertiser) are specified and match in both reports.
5. Apply different reporting dimensions to see if you can isolate the discrepancy to a specific object such as a creative, exchange, or domain.
   • If you are able to isolate the discrepancy to a Creative, there may be an issue in the Creative implementation. Verify with your ad server the Macro placement and the proper implementation of the tag/tracker.
   • If you are able to isolate the discrepancy to an exchange or domain, it would be recommended to either remove the exchange or block the domain if possible.
6. Calculate the discrepancy percentage using the formula (1 – (Pontiac Report/3rd Party Report)) x 100. If the discrepancy is less than 10% (15% for mobile), it’s considered expected variation.