If there are leads generated because of a digital campaign, on verifying these, there could be detection of fraud. There is a lot of fraud in the digital ad industry, and so it is difficult to monetise it. There are instances of misalignment of incentives, overbiling and fake traffic. Ad frauds could be 10-30 per cent of all digital advertising done in India. The most common are the click fraud and bot fraud. Bots trick impressions and clicks. They mimic human behaviour. They mingle with the rest of the traffic. Yahoo India’s detection system identifies 20-40 per cent traffic on its tech platform as non-human traffic (NHT). It blocks its pre-bid, leaving less than 5 per cent NHT, as measured by third party vendors.
In mobiles, the frequency of fraud is higher. Fraudsters not only try to deliver and get paid for bot impressions, bot clicks, farmed leads, incentivised installs and fake customers. Human and machine farms drive installs and leads. It affects performance marketing. The marketer does not understand the cost of incentivesed installs or mobile apps.
Fraudsters follow the money. The highest CPMs are in video ads. Advertisers expect little measurable RoI from video ads. This makes a fraudster command a higher return, and remain under the radar.
Programmatic video accounts for more fraud than direct video in the US. India is still a nascent market for programmatic video.
The opportunities for an ad fraud arrive when marketers want results quickly.
Ad fraud can be countered by working with large reputed publishers and by using the right metrics.
The focus should be on buying viewable impressions and working with established publishers. While an advertiser is charged for the impression, it is not served in a humanly viewable space.
DSP platforms chosen must be right — e.g. The Trade Desk, Appnexus and Media Math. They ensure the efficient buys.
It also matters from where the inventory is sourced.. If the sources are non-identifiable, the possibilities of fraud increase.
Ad tech partners must convince the advertisers about their anti-fraud technology. There should be third-party verification and certification.