AD FRAUD HITS TV

OTT platforms are some of the fastest-growing ways people are watching TV, but advertising on OTT platforms is still a tiny component of total TV advertising.

There are basically two kinds of OTT platforms -- the ones you pay for monthly that don't carry advertising, and the ones that are free and make their money from advertisers.

As TV falls deeper down the rat hole of surveillance and behavioral targeting that web advertising has pioneered, the same fraudsters who are polluting the display advertising marketplace are now poisoning the OTT world.

It all starts with advertisers trying to game the system by not buying directly from sellers and instead buying adtech-enabled crap. Just as in display advertising, the cheap end of the behavioral marketplace is loaded with imaginary inventory that is sold to suckers for low prices. But the suckers can then show their bosses lower CPMs. "Look at the great prices we got for all these imaginary spots."

Then it escalated into print warfare when MillerCoors answered back with a full page ad in the New York Times. Then Bud rebutted with...oh, who really gives a shit? There aren't a dozen beer drinkers in America who are going to change brands over this baloney. The only people excited about this are corn farmers who have sworn off Bud for denigrating their glorious syrup.

And speaking of Super Bowl hot air, another thing beer drinkers couldn't give a flying shit about is wind power. "Hey, Bubba, you wanna brew? I don't know, Virgil, does it use wind power?"

Just for the record, I'd like to know exactly how much of the total energy Budweiser uses is derived from wind power? If it's more than 1% I'll eat a fucking Clydesdale.

Arjun and Jessica Sud routinely use a baby monitor to keep tabs on their 7-month-old’s bedroom. Last month, they heard something chilling through the monitor: A deep male voice was speaking to their child.

“Immediately I barge into the room because I’m like, ‘Oh my God, maybe someone got in there,’” said Arjun Sud, 29. “The moment I walk in, it’s quiet.”

The couple grabbed their son, now fully awake, and headed downstairs. When they passed their Nest thermostat, normally set around 72 degrees, they noticed it had been turned up to 90. Then, the voice was back, coming through the speaker in a downstairs security camera. And this time, it was talking to them.

The voice was rude and vulgar, using the n-word and cursing...The Lake Barrington family’s Nest cameras and thermostat had been hacked.

“I felt like I (was) trapped in an episode of ‘Black Mirror,’” Arjun Sud said, referring to a television series that explores the darker aspects of technology. “All these devices you’ve put in there to safeguard yourself, to protect your home, your family, (are) now being used maliciously to turn against you.”

Nest users across the country have reported similar incidents in recent weeks, but the Google-owned company has insisted that it was not breached. Instead, Nest has said that affected customers could have done more to protect their devices.

Good job, Google. Blame the victims.

The rest of the advertising sector was affected as ad shares tanked across the board.

The drop in Publicis' shares provided a very perverse delight to a jerk like me  because of the ungodly fuss they made last year about some wanky "disruptive" Artificial Intelligence gimmick called "Marcel" that was going to take them right to the top by making them...I don't know?... artificially intelligent?

Unilever, one of the world's largest advertisers, made a big fuss and said they "would stop working with influencers who buy fake followers" (AdAge). Yeah, right. A few years ago they were also quoted as saying they would pull out of online advertising unless it cleaned up its act. Still waiting...

Last week it was reported that "influencers" hired by Unilever's Dove brand had 25% fake followers. And always remember, the fraud that is detected and reported is only the lousy fraud. The good fraudsters go undetected.

- I GUESS I'm required to say something about this year's crop of Super Bowl ads. Compared to the game and the half-time show they were amazing. Five years from now the only spot anyone will remember will be Andy Warhol.

- SURVEY says: According to this piece in Forbes, "83% Of Consumers Believe Personalized Ads Are Morally Wrong." 100% of dumbass bloggers believe consumers have no idea what is meant by "personalized ads." Importance of this research? Zilch.

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