Integral Ad Science, a global media measurement and optimisation platform, has announced the expansion of its Made for Advertising (MFA) AI-driven solution. With this enhancement, IAS now offers advertisers a solution that can measure and optimise against both MFA and Ad Clutter sites to enhance efficacy across the programmatic buying process.
MFA sites are web pages designed for ad arbitrage and typically feature low-quality content, such as spam sites or ad farms, created solely to serve ads. Conversely, Ad Clutter sites are characterised by high ad density and a high ad-to-content ratio, resulting in decreased performance. Instead of relying on a static exclusion list, IAS utilises advanced machine learning technology and additional signals integrated into its core platform to intelligently identify MFA and Ad Clutter sites.
“With the proliferation of MFA, global advertisers need safeguards to avoid ad arbitrage and low performing, high-ad density sites while optimising for media quality and performance. We’re proud to offer the industry’s first pressure-tested solution for detecting and avoiding MFA and Ad Clutter sites at scale while also preserving the flexibility to reach audiences across a diverse range of publishers,” Lisa Utzschneider, CEO, IAS, said.
According to the ANA’s recent Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study, MFA websites accounted for 21% of study impressions and 15% of ad spend. This highlights an opportunity for advertisers and agencies to gain better insight into the delivery of their impressions and to optimise away from MFA sites to reduce media waste. Analysis conducted by IAS across over 40 global agencies and brands revealed that traffic served on sites classified as non-MFA had a conversion rate of more than 278% better than traffic served on MFA sites. Additionally, further analysis by IAS showed that quality media was more cost-efficient than MFA sites, with a lower cost-per-conversion by 63%.
The IAS MFA Measurement and Optimisation solution aligns with the ANA’s definition of MFA and has been trained against Sincera’s extensive library of metadata along with Jounce Media’s widely adopted list of MFA domains. The solution utilises supply chain data and IAS-measured site characteristics, including ad-to-content ratio, total number of ads, auto-refresh ads, refresh rate, traffic source, and autoplay video ads, to report on MFA Ads, MFA Rate, Ad Clutter Ads, and Ad Clutter Rate.
“The industry should not conflate Made For Advertising supply with other forms of low quality advertising experiences. MFA publishers operate an ad arbitrage business model that has no place in the programmatic supply chain. Separately, media companies that produce original content and attract organic visitors sometimes engage in aggressive monetisation techniques that dilute the value of advertising. By clearly distinguishing MFA supply from ad clutter, IAS is giving media buyers the tools they need to make informed decisions about inventory quality,” Chris Kane, president, Jounce Media, said.
By partnering with IAS, publishers can also garner greater insight into their own inventory with solutions for how to improve quality and drive greater engagement with advertisers. For publishers identified as MFA or Ad Clutter, they’ll also have greater visibility into their inventory quality. IAS MFA measurement promotes a healthier media ecosystem by enabling publishers to improve the quality of their properties and drive greater engagement with their advertisers.