‘Collective protection’: how to combat new frontiers of ad fraud
Digital advertisers have a responsibility to minimize ad fraud across their platforms, however both organizations and consumers are often impacted by wrongdoers within the current supply chain. As ad fraud becomes ever more sophisticated, it is invading a range of new channels including audio, podcast and connected TV at higher rates. As part of The Drum’s Data Deep Dive, we look at how ad fraud is evolving, and experts weigh in on what advertisers can do to ensure their media buys are legitimate.
Between 8% and 30% of global digital ad spend is lost each year to advertising fraud
A number of studies published in recent years estimate that between 8% and 30% of global digital ad spend is lost each year to advertising fraud. Juniper Research estimates that this will continue to rise, with the market losing up to $44bn as a result of fraudulent activity by 2022.
Dan Lowden, chief marketing officer at Human, says this is because cybercriminal organizations are becoming more sophisticated in their approach to ad fraud.
“They are well funded, act like real companies, have health care, offer vacation days and pay well. Instead of committing simple fraud through large data centers and click farms – as done in the past – they now work in organized groups,” he says.
“For example, one group creates the malware, a second group deploys malware on to millions of consumer and enterprise devices, a third group enables attacks from these devices by sending billions of fake requests that look and act like they are coming from real humans (but they are in fact sophisticated bots), a fourth group pulls the money out in the shadows of a very complicated digital ecosystem, and a fifth group launders and distributes the money. Cybercriminal organizations can be much more complex than that, and they always follow the money.”
The new frontiers
Although ad fraud occurs across platforms and formats, new attacks tend to follow wherever ad spend flows. Connected TV (CTV) is a recent example. According to eMarketer, there was over $8bn of CTV ad spend in the US in 2020m, which is expected to double by 2023. Fraud is following the shift in money to CTV – and the more premium the inventory, the more likely it is to attract bad actors, says John Ross, director of product strategy at DoubleVerify.
“Now that fraudsters are targeting CTV, the schemes have continued to grow increasingly complex. DV’s Fraud Lab has seen schemes that hijack CTV devices to generate impressions, even when the screen is off through screensavers, as well as schemes like MultiTerra that artificially inflate CTV inventory volume and direct media investment away from CTV platforms. The impact is significant: the MultiTerra botnet, for example, generated more than 3m fake impressions a day at its peak in CTV and mobile environments.”
Ross explains that in order to minimize the risk of ad fraud on their platforms, digital advertisers need to adopt a belt and braces approach to tackling the issue.
Utilizing new tools
He says: “As advertisers shift budgets to CTV inventory and platforms, the need to understand performance and measurability across the channel is now more important than ever. Third-party verification, avoidance and blocking tools are critical for advertisers to ensure they are making the most of their digital media investments, and avoid falling prey to fraudsters.”
The Conscious Ad Network, an industry community that seeks to fight advertising abuse, highlights ad fraud as a key component to its mission. It believes that in the future, campaigns and revenue will be targeted to supply and partners, which can demonstrate their integrity, thus making action a commercial imperative as well as an ethical one.
Collaboration is key
Lowden says that cross-industry collaboration such as this will also be key going forward to ensure that advertisers can invest in media buys that are legitimate and ethical.
He says: “The only way to win is to be smarter than the cybercriminals by changing the game and the odds to the side of the good. We can only do this if we work together as an industry through collective protection,” citing Human’s ‘The Human Collective’ network that helped to take down the infamous Methbot operation as an example.
He says that going forward, ad fraud can be eliminated quickly through protected channels where there are direct relationships, trust and full transparency.
“Working together through a collectively protected supply chain will ensure the ecosystem realizes the full benefits of creating a great CTV customer experience that is ad fraud free,” he concludes.