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PR FRAUD ABOUT AD FRAUD
Not satisfied at becoming a laughingstock in 2017 when it issued its first "victory-over-ad-fraud" nonsense, this week the ANA doubled-down on cluelessness...."Report From ANA And White Ops Shows War On Ad Fraud Is Succeeding," says the ANA.
"Not so fast," say ad fraud experts.
I'll let the experts do the talking. First up is Dr. Augustine Fou, of Marketing Science Consulting Group, one of the world's leading researchers on ad fraud...
The Data is Accurate. The PR Push Around it is Misleading, at Best.
Fraud rates in a small sample of data on specific kinds of ads should not be extrapolated to the entire industry with a blanket statement that "ad fraud is lower." Conclusions about ad fraud based largely on the detection of bots, when bots are no longer the dominant form of ad fraud, is like drawing conclusions about murder rates based on the number of swords sold. It is outdated and irresponsible.
White Op's measurement is beyond reproach, but the conclusions are not. The data, the caveats, and the recommendations are accurate. Fraud did go down in the tiny data set they observed (2 months of data, 27 billion impressions out of 70 trillion impressions per year, or 0.04%). Of the data used in the report, "Less than Half of All Impressions Are Fully, Transparently Validatable." It cannot be assumed that there was not fraud in the half that was not measurable. And further, the report says that fraud is shifting into other channels (mobile in-app, video streaming, CTV/OTT) that are even less measurable by current fraud detection technologies.
Overwhelming evidence published by others, and the daily observations of ad ops practitioners show ad fraud is at its highest point ever -- in rate, in dollar amount, and in sophistication https://digiday.com/media/daily-hourly-fight-digital-ad-fraud-worse-ever/.
The extrapolation by a national trade association and the PR surrounding the report is irresponsible and misleading. Credulous headlines about the report increase the deception -- "ANA to ad fraud: drop dead, we're winning" and "Digital Ad-Fraud Losses Decline" -- is not journalism. It is PR.
Fraudsters are using more advanced technologies and techniques and are better at hiding from detection. When fraud detection technologies show lower numbers, it may just be that they are able to detect less fraud, not that fraud has actually gone down.
Shailin Dhar and Praneet Sharma advisors at Method Media Intelligence agree...
Ad fraud is still done right out in the open...
It's not a "crime" because nobody gets caught or faces consequences. This company https://www.hastraffic.com/ is the "Titanium" sponsor of this event: https://www.affiliatesummit.com/east.
How can they say that fraud is going down when they acknowledge that it's becoming easier to commit and the techniques are getting more sophisticated... Ad fraud is still a supply chain problem that needs more than a bot-detection exercise... (bot detection) companies use behavioral signals to detect bots and it's very easy to simulate human behavior in an automated web browser....White Ops and the ANA are still clueless on how ad fraud actually happens.
Facebook's Pivot To Nowhere
I don't envy Mark Zuckerberg. He's got himself one hell of a shit hole to dig himself out of.
Facebook's latest non-solution is to re-make itself into some kind of massive community of secret societies. It will emphasize small groups and encrypted private messaging that disappears in 24 hours -- exactly the kind of structure that is likely to result in more, not less, of the deplorable content that has made it a worldwide pariah.
It's a very far cry from the Facebook Zuckerberg originally claimed to envisage -- a utopian global community that was going to bring the world closer together. And, oh yeah, make a shitload of money.
Let's not forget that the social media industry was founded by children, for children, with the perspective of children and the sense of responsibility of children. Adults who (ahem) pointed out the dangers were dismissed as Luddite dinosaurs. The reckless, infantile culture was established fifteen years ago, and we are just now coming to terms with the havoc it has wrought.
"Move fast and break things"
"Young people are just smarter"
The philosophy of an imbecile.
Ads in Space
I hope I've been taken in by a hoax because if this thing is real I'm going to have to kill myself.
This company wants to put ads in space, orbiting the globe. In an industry famous for bad ideas, this has to be the worst ever. OK, maybe not quite as bad as the Pepsi Refresh Project, but still...
To the people reading this in 2030, when ads in space are a commonplace thing, remember, I tried to warn you.
Moving Targets Are Harder To Hit
This week I'll be in Copenhagen on Tuesday pissing everybody off at the NextM conference. My talk will be about how we ad and marketing geniuses don't really know everything we think we know.
Then on Friday I'll be in Toronto at Canadian Music Week talking to delegates from the radio industry. My talk will cover two areas: Dumping on the online ad industry, and how marketers are losing billions by moving broadcast dollars online.
If I don't come back, please notify the authorities.
