Ad fraud is a renowned villain in the world of digital advertising that costs advertisers billions annually. With the Ad spending in the digital advertising market projected to reach US$740.3 billion in 2024 as per Statista, the digital advertising market is a lucrative target for fraudsters. To ensure a safe distance from these digital evils, it is vital to understand the different forms of ad fraud and their implications on the industry.
Click – Click – Click
Click fraud is one of the most common forms of ad fraud found across the world.This occurs when individuals or automated systems click on ads with no intention of engaging with the content or making a purchase. Click farms, where low-paid workers are hired to click on ads repeatedly, are a significant source of this fraud. If that wasn’t enough, AI has also been deployed into this fraud with automated bots that are programmed to mimic human behaviour and click on the ads continuously. A report by White Ops and the Association of National Advertisers found that bot traffic accounted for 37.6% of all digital ad traffic, a significant portion of which is related to click fraud.
The worst impression
Ad stacking comes under the category of impression fraud. This includes the fraud that gives advertisers the impression that their ad is being displayed to the audience when in reality it is just technically present on the screen, not necessarily visible to the naked eye. Ad stacking involves loading multiple ads in a single ad placement, with only the top ad being visible to the audience. However, advertisers are charged for all the ads despite them being unseen. This type of fraud manipulates metrics like cost-per-thousand impressions, misleading advertisers about the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Are you on the right website?
Domain spoofing is a sophisticated ad fraud technique where fraudsters masquerade as reputable publishers to sell fake ad inventory. By falsifying the URL in ad bids, they trick advertisers into thinking their ads are placed on premium sites, when in reality, they appear on low-quality or non-existent websites. This not only drains advertising budgets but also damages brand reputation.
AI in Ad fraud
With AI being used in many industries now, it made its entry into ad fraud too. While AI is used to combat ad fraud by various advertisers, AI can play a major role in enhancing the cases of ad fraud too. Read more about this here: How artificial intelligence is the ‘Judwaa’ Twins of ad fraud
You should be scared of this injection!
Ad Injection happens when fraudsters insert unauthorised ads into a publisher’s website by using browser extensions, malware, or compromised networks. These injected ads distract the traffic away from the organic ads placed on the website thereby stealing revenue from both the publishers and advertisers.
Convert, the wrong way
Conversion fraud manipulates post-click or post-impression actions, such as form submissions, app installs, or sales, to generate fraudulent conversions. This serves as an umbrella term with click injection, click spamming and other bots that mimic human behaviour under it. Advertisers relying on performance-based models, like cost-per-acquisition, are particularly vulnerable to this kind of ad fraud.