The State of Ad Fraud in 2018

A lot has been done to minimize the impact of ad fraud within the advertising industry. However, it is still a big issue in 2018.

According to Juniper Research, this year advertisers may lose around $19 billions on fraudulent ads. The Research predicts that this figure will keep rising, reaching $ 44 billion by 2022 as scammers create new approaches to fake genuine traffic.

Fraud in Video Advertising

The immense growth of video advertising has led us to some unfortunate consequences. Being extremely popular among advertisers it attracted a huge number of fraudsters who took advantage of the trend. The numbers are shocking: video advertising fraud accounts for 64% of all ad scam across the Internet.

Why This Matters to Publishers

Video ad fraud prevents premium publishers from getting money intended to go to credible media sites in the first place. Instead of getting payments from agencies, publishing sites lose money because buyers’ ads end up on spammy pages overflowed with inhuman traffic.

What Is Being Done

Recently, many initiatives have taken place. We already talked about Google banning 3.2 billion bad ads and its new advertising policies.

Other organizations are fighting against digital scam, too; the IAB’s ads.txt novelty, built-in Ad Blockers, and local authorities taking action against ad fraud. London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) started educating brands on how not to end up next to infringing content.

The early signs of ongoing anti-adfraud initiatives are promising. With the major organizations taking fraud serious as never before, 2018 is going to be a year where we will significantly improve digital transparency.

How to Protect Yourself from Scammers

Regardless what side you represent, choose advertising partners wisely. Make sure that agency/network you work with is using sufficient methods to protect you against inhuman traffic and inappropriate content. This precaution will secure you from shady actors and make your advertising efforts thrive.

Meanwhile, Impactify is developing new methods to fight back fraudsters to guarantee you the best ad experience. Our video ad network works only with the best partners to provide you with the safe, transparent environment.