Tackling Digital Ad Fraud With Blockchain in 2020: AdLedger Unveils OpenRTB

OpenRTB by AdLedger will help advertisers combat ad fraud

AdLedger, the blockchain industry consortium launched OpenRTB protocol last week to address digital ad fraud. The open-source technology injects cryptographic tools such as digital signatures into OpenRTB protocol to identify illegitimate ad supply, create a verifiable chain of custody, and create mechanisms for data access and validation for the digital advertising industry.

“OpenRTB represents incredible innovation that powered the rise of digital advertising, but as consumer technology evolved over the last decade, problems were introduced into the ecosystem,” said Christiana Cacciapuoti, executive director at AdLedger. “We now have technologies like blockchain and cryptography, which can work in tandem with OpenRTB to power a system where privacy and profitability can coexist.”

The OpenRTB protocol was developed by the digital advertising company MadHive, which is donating the technology for AdLedger consortium that includes advertisers such as Omnicom, IPG Publicis, GroupM, Dentsu, Hershey, Hearst, Meredith, and Viacom. The protocol uses the MadNetwork blockchain, an open-source sidechain of Ethereum, which serves as a sophisticated and scalable key-value store for identity validation and data storage.

“The e-commerce industry has been relying on cryptography to ensure trust, transparency, and security for decades, and now we’re leveraging it to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in digital advertising,” said Adam Helfgott, CEO at MadHive and project dead at MadNetwork. “OpenRTB’s ability to turn verification and attribution mechanisms into irrefutable, immutable proof that events transpired will go a long way in preventing these systemic problems.”

Is OpenRTB the Solution To Ad Fraud?

Organizations are spending more on digital advertising than ever before, it seems, forsaking traditional campaigns on television and billboards in favor of where consumers are hanging out nowadays: online.

Broadcast and print mediums are being ignored to prioritize limited ad dollars on digital platforms, where targeted campaign spending should theoretically see better, more optimized returns for what the advertiser spends. Digital advertising is where the most eyeballs are nowadays, which is why the ad spend on digital is expected to eclipse US$335 billion this year.

But while budget expenditures are on the rise, so is the amount of digital ad fraud. Experts say that out of the US$300 billion spent on digital ads in 2019, fake clicks created by automated bots is coming out to US$6 billion annually. These fraudulent clicks or ‘conversions’ are costing advertisers billions in lost revenue.

Blockchain-based solutions like OpenRTB represent an important step toward recasting advertising infrastructure to maximize transparency, accountability and trust among brands, modern agencies and publishers. Blockchain tells you something happened, and cryptography tells you if it’s true or false. OpenRTB is a full stack solution for digital advertising that uses blockchain and cryptography to give both buyers and sellers the transparency required to understand the real efficacy of their digital pipelines.