WTF is Ad Fraud - October 23, 2014

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WTF is Ad Fraud?A series of criminal activities conducted

by humans and robots designed to

sell fake impressions, clicks and leads

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Why is it happening• Supply and Demand

• Because of the way that we buy media:– Eyeballs (CPM)– Action Taken (CPC, CPA)

• Because it’s easy for hackers

Source: Intragual Ad Science

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Fraud is Big Business

$38MM $18B $24B $50BSource, Augustine Fou, IAB Projections 2014, WSJ “A Third of Traffic is Bogus” March 2014

Confirmed Fraud?

$? Billion suspected

fraud?

US Digital Ad Market 2015

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Three Frauds That Will Blow Your Mind

• Ad Stacking• Malware• Bots

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Researcher Finds at least 2% of US Web Ads are Stuffed in Invisible Webpages

Source: Arstechnica May, 1 2013 Images from Spider.io

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Last Year Google Disabled 400,000 Ads From Sites Hiding Malware

Source: Images from Spider.io

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Humans < 40% of Global Web Traffic

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The Industry Has Started a Taskforce

“over the years, it has become clear that no company can fight ad fraud alone. We just come together as an industry to create an environment

where illegitimate traffic is not tolerated”- Mike Zaneis, EVP and General Council, IAB

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What You Can Do Today?• Pay attention• Require transparency• Advance your success

measurement

Greg Fischer, EVP Media @gregfischer www.swirl.net