Ad fraud has been a major concern in the digital advertising industry. According to data from Fraudlogix gathered across 35 million ad impressions in Q1 2022, bots and ad fraud make up 15.6% globally. In terms of the value of ad spending lost to fraud, it’s expected to reach $68 billion globally in 2022, compared to $59 billion in 2021. Juniper Research identified that 5 countries account for 60% of global losses: the US, Japan, China, South Korea, and the UK. But ad fraud is an issue with global implications and companies everywhere are taking measures to combat it. This article takes a closer look at ad fraud and examines recent trends in fraud detection and mitigation. What is ad fraud? Ad fraud is any attempt to mislead advertisers into believing that fake online activity is real. This is commonly done using bots but may include other methods. Ad fraud obstructs ads from being delivered to the actual target audience. Scammers deceive advertisers into paying for this fake activity, therefore skewing KPIs and misleading marketers. Common ad fraud indicators vary from unusually low performance and low conversion rates to sudden spikes in CTR or impressions. Types of ad fraud There are different kinds of advertising fraud across web, mobile web, and mobile apps, such as: Click fraud – Fake clicks generated using bots or click farms (teams of low-wage workers). Click injection – A type of mobile ad fraud where the user has a fraudulent app on their device. When…
