When it comes to the magnitude of the ad fraud crisis, the numbers speak for themselves – last year alone, eMarketer reported that fake impressions cost advertisers globally $7.2 billion, including over £600 million in the UK alone.
As if that wasn’t enough to keep marketers up at night, the World Federation of Advertisers claimed that ad fraud might develop to become one of the most serious forms of organised crime, right after cocaine and opiate market scandals.
The figures seem to paint a bleaker picture every year, but that’s not to say the industry has given up the fight. Standard authorities such as JICWEBS now seek to certify those enforcing combative measures, while more and more businesses are rolling out their own verification tools, and specialist companies increasingly emerge to capitalise on demand. It’s a first step in the right direction as businesses become more aware of the problem and actively seek to solve it.
One of the companies committed to putting an end to fake clicks is digital marketing platform Impact Radius. Having strengthened its position by acquiring anti-fraud solutions business Forensiq, the group is taking serious measures to fight fraudulent ads, and claims to be the industry’s first company to have integrated an ad fraud detection specialist into its platform.
PerformanceIN caught up with Impact Radius’ Julia Smith, director of communications, and Hannah Beanland, director of technical operations, to find out why ad fraud thrives, what the consequences are for the industry globally, and what companies can do to stop it.
Watch the full interview above, or to skip to a particular question, just use the timestamps below:
00:00:38: When did ad fraud become a problem?
00:02:05: Why does ad fraud thrive?
00:03:45: How is the industry tackling the issue?
00:06:40: Did the industry make much progress is tackling ad fraud in 2016?
00:08:35: Do people understand why fraud detection technologies are so important?
00:10:57: What are the future trends in advertising?