Buyer Beware: Avoiding Fraudulent Ad Impressions
Branded minigames have the potential to break down the wall of mistrust in digital advertising.
Guest post by Alexandre Tan VP Advertising at Gameloft Advertising Solutions.
Originally published in Mobile World Daily.
The tricks and scams that plague the digital ad space are politely known as ad fraud. The ever present struggle of buying fake inventory and battling bots wastes money and generates false data. At its worst, ad fraud can even lead to creatives being shown against inappropriate content when an advertiser is not 100% sure where their ads are being published.
Fighting ad fraud is an industry-wide initiative that requires everyone to take action and hold publishers accountable for their inventory. Unfortunately, behind the polite requests for better advertising lies a vast sea of ignorance of what a fraud-free environment really looks like.
An important first step is asking agencies about the problem. A good supplier will be knowledgeable about ad fraud and have proof of their performance readily available. The other side of asking for data is not being naïve about the digital ad space and understanding the state of the industry.
The amount of fraud affecting a given campaign can vary depending on the environment and the ad format. In broad terms, there is a lot less fraud on mobile than desktop, especially when looking at in-app. According to the Association of National Advisers, only 2% of in-app advertising is fraudulent, while desktop fraud can be as high as 22%.
Ad Formats and Ad Fraud
Fake clicks and false data require mimicking human behavior. The complexity of the interaction between the user and an ad thus determines the difficultly of generating false views. In other words, the format of an ad can have an effect on ad fraud.
Banner
The classic static image format offers the most convenient way to deliver a message in digital advertising. Users click the banner to reach the product page. The process is designed to make it easy to convert interested users without wasting any time.
The most common issues with banner ads are ad stacking and below the fold placement. The type of fraud that causes an ad to be counted and thus billed even though it isn’t actually ever seen.
The mechanism of the ad itself is also a contributing factor to fraud. The convenience of a one-click solution means that bots only need to mimic a single click to pass as human.
Video
The rise of high speed internet gave advertisers the ability to reliably serve video ads and deliver a narrative to consumers in an engaging way. Video ads share the same common issues that banner ads face.
- Ad Stacking
- Invisible 1x1 pixel ads
- Below the fold placements
An important difference between video and banner ads is the higher CPM of the former. With a higher payout there is a greater incentive for scammers to deliver fake views with the format, which only worsens the problem of ad fraud.
Another issue with video ad fraud comes from what exactly counts as a viewable impression. Without a clear definition, preferably something like the MRC standard, publishers can claim a video as viewable even if the video played for less than a second. On top of that, the act of viewing a video, especially if there is no agreed definition for a view, can be easily mimicked by bots due to the lack of interaction between the creative and the user.
Branded Minigames
Battling fraud starts by holding publishers to a higher standard and a part of that can be demanding ads that are more interactive. Rich media formats are defined around building more engaging advertising that requires users to interact with the ad, the brand, and the message.
Branded minigames, short games designed to combine the message of the brand with fun and engaging content, are a good example of an innovative rich media ad format that measurably deters fraudulent activity.
Games inherently tap into human creativity by challenging users to reach a goal. Figuring out the complicated series of clicks it takes to beat a game is something humans are very good at, but bots are not. There is no single correct order of clicks and that basic game feature makes it hard for bots to generate fake impressions.
To give a real world example, Gameloft Advertising Solutions has seen the minigame format outperform in-app benchmarks.
The viewability of the gamified format is generally high, but there is one area that is absolutely exceptional. The universal touch rate, the percentage of impressions where an ad was touched, is more than 10 times higher than the in-app benchmarks.
A 94% touch rate is evidence of users clicking the ad to have fun. They want to play the game and in the process engage with the advertisement. The entire journey has users choosing to interact with the brand and its message.
Innovation and creativity are the keys to taking on the challenges of the advertising industry. With a powerful ad format that is properly targeted the user will engage with the brand and the viewability will be excellent.
The high percentage of real provable views also shows how investing in branded minigames helps create a fraud-free environment. It may not be the complete solution, but finding reliable ways to limit fraudulent activity is the right path for a better, more verifiable, advertising future.
Make sure you read Gameloft Leaves a Viewable Impression on the Digital Ad Space as well:
