At a time when many advertisers are shifting their budgets, it’s paramount to protect your digital media investments from bad actors looking to capitalize on market uncertainty. Our best defense against this fraud starts with understanding IVT, writes, Callie Reynolds, vice president, account management. Oracle.
So, you’re working in digital advertising and think you have a good handle on how to drive success for your media campaigns. Then, BAM!! Another headline comes across the wire about the next fraudster-of-the-month. How is anyone supposed to keep up? Before you panic and contact your media partners to demand an impact assessment, it helps to have a firm grasp on what invalid traffic (IVT) and ad fraud are and how best to address them.
IVT is any page view, impression or click caused without human intent that may artificially inflate media metrics. This can include anything from innocent impressions generated by testing software all the way to the darker side of IVT—ad fraud. That is specifically caused by criminals exploiting technology to make illicit profit.
At a time when many advertisers are pausing or shifting their budgets, it’s paramount to protect your digital media investments from bad actors looking to capitalize on market uncertainty. And while not all IVT is fraudulent, our best defense against this fraud starts with understanding IVT and implementing proper strategies for avoidance.
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The Scope of the Problem
Ad fraud costs marketers around the world billions of dollarsOpens a new window due to inflated impressions, misrepresented metrics, and inaccurate reporting. Despite significant industry steps to prevent this loss, it remains a significant problem for advertisers and publishers globally.
But while there’s consensus in the industry that IVT is a major problem, the topic still yields common misunderstandings.
Not All IVT is Nefarious
You may not know it from the headlines but a significant volume of IVT is not fraudulent. For example, legitimate sites and software use bots to crawl and test web pages, causing invalid impressions. Although practical and necessary for internet operations, this type of traffic is still non-human, and advertisers shouldn’t pay for ads delivered to bots.
However, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for. The real challenge is anticipating the next botnet or malware-based fraudster trying to trick you into thinking that those impressions are served to your intended audience.
Upping the Ante on Your Ad Fraud Protection
To say this issue is complex is an understatement. Even the most celebrated technologies can struggle with this. Just ask how a man with a wagon full of smartphones tricked mapping apps Opens a new window into believing there was a traffic jam on an otherwise empty street.
Other types of fraud also have a significant impact on the industry. Take domain spoofingOpens a new window , where programmatic inventory is presented to the buying algorithm as one domain or inventory type, but doesn’t match where the ad ends up. And while you should use pre-bid targeting or avoidance and post-bid blocking solutions to minimize waste, those tactics also have limitations.
The bottom line is, even with all the safeguards in place, it’s impossible to solve for every kind of invalid or fraudulent impression. Just one undetected bad actor in the mix taking advantage of the complexities of the supply chain can impact advertisers and publishers alike.
Learn More: 3 Steps to Reimagining Digital AdvertisingOpens a new window
Tips for Combating Invalid Traffic and Ad Fraud
Equipping yourself with knowledge and tools to monitor for irregularities gives you the best chance to thrive. Here are a few tactics to implement.
- Work closely with a trusted verification partner with Media Ratings Council (MRC) accreditation for all types of IVT detection across your inventory, like desktop, video, over-the-top (OTT), mobile web, and in-app. They should equip you with granular reporting—not just on forms of IVT detection, but also provide visibility into gray-area metrics around traffic quality.
- Remember to champion the accuracy of IVT detection over whoever reports a higher rate. There are plenty of examples of false positives: corporate VPNs, IP block listing that counts valid device activity as invalid, and desktop and mobile app impressions not using the right implementation processes.
- Define and measure metrics that matter to your team and tie them to outcomes.
- Employ traditional IVT avoidance technology, such as post-bid blocking and pre-bid targeting or avoidance capabilities.
- Set up alerts to inform campaign managers when inventory sources are reporting high IVT and work alongside media partners to better understand the causes of IVT.
- Test, optimize, and repeat.
What’s Next for IVT
With consumers relying more heavily on their devices to remain connected, our lives are more digital than ever. This shift poses an interesting and challenging time for digital marketers, underscoring the need to adopt a more rigorous approach against ad fraud. Understanding IVTOpens a new window and working with a trusted technology partner can help you protect your budget, maximize investments, and focus on optimizing your campaigns.