Two Essential Resources for Fighting Ad Fraud

We’re facing off against a billion dollar bot problem. For all you Star Wars fans out there, we’re not talking about the R2-D2 kind of bots. According to research from the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and a study conducted with White Ops, $6.3 billion will be lost to ad fraud this year. Staggered? We are too.

Because ad fraud is multi-faceted, it’s often difficult to understand. Here’s a quick refresher. Ad fraud is the practice of serving digital ads that have no potential to be viewed by human users. In the programmatic sector, it’s a critical issue plaguing marketers today. The openness that allows pretty much any advertiser or publisher to participate in the programmatic ecosystem also lets the bad apples partake and pollute the quality of the marketplace. So what does this mean for you? With 11 percent of display advertising impressions deemed fraudulent, something needs to be done in order to alleviate the problem.

The good news is that our industry has overcome numerous challenges in the past, and ad fraud will be no different. To start, you must first address the issue as a whole by taking the time to truly understand it. It’s great if you already do, but if you’re one of the many who don’t, now is the time to get started. As a marketer, you should know (or at least have a good idea) the answers to the following questions: What are the types of ad fraud? What are some best practices for fighting it? What steps should you take when you come across a suspicious site? We know what you might be thinking: that’s a lot of knowledge to process and I don’t really have the time. Not to worry! We’ve got the right resources available to help you get up to speed in a matter of minutes.

At this year’s ad:tech New York, our very own Ratko Vidakovic, vice president of product marketing, programmatic, spoke about the war against ad fraud and what you should know to protect yourself. We’ve got his presentation available here for all you fraud fighters looking to come out on top. In it, you’ll get a deep-dive into the hot topic, as well as learn some steps to take to determine whether a publisher is suspicious or not. Also, here is the link to download your copy of the one-sheet that was distributed during the session. Refer to it for some battle-tested best practices, as well as a couple handy tools and tactics to help you win this fight.