Publisher lose as much as $1.27 billion every year due to ad fraud according to a study conducted by top programmatic publishers. Ad fraud has been one of the biggest problems in the digital advertising industry.
Not only advertisers are affected by ad fraud but the publishers also lose their revenue and credibility. For helping publishers to understand and prevent themselves from ad frauds we have listed different types of ad frauds.
1. Bot Traffic
Bots are program designed to mimic human actions and interact with ad. These programs generate fake impressions but it is easy to detect bot traffic as these bots can’t perfectly mimic human behavior. But, fraudsters are trying to make these bots more sophisticated. Participating in private exchanges can save publishers from this fraud , as you limit your inventory in the open market for everyone to access.
2. Ad Injection
Placing ads on publisher’s website without their knowledge and permission is ad injection. These attacks happen when a user installs software from websites that are not trustworthy. These ads are injected by browser extensions to replace the current genuine ads. Advertisers pay publishers for showing their ads if advertiser’s ads will not display this will directly affect publisher’s revenue.
3. Click Fraud
Low paid workers are paid for clicking on ads to increase CTR revenue but the revenue goes to the fraudsters. This fraud is very difficult to identify as it involves real human interaction. If you look closely to your analytics, you will find out such fraud.
4. Cookie Stuffing
When a user clicks on an affiliate link on a publisher’s website, the money for that click goes to fraudster instead of publisher. This fraud is done by stuffing cookies of third-party websites in user’s browser without informing them.
5. Domain Spoofing
When fraudsters pretend to represent a premium publisher is domain spoofing. Ad injection can be done by fraudsters by modifying the ad tags. This means that fraudsters can sell publisher’s inventory for which the publisher will not get any single penny.
Combating Ad Fraud
It is very difficult to completely get rid of ad frauds. But publisher can avoid ad frauds by keeping an eye on its website analytics. Publishers should work with companies, for instance Mahimeta for better guidance and support