DID YOU KNOW THAT 1/3 OF ALL ONLINE ADVERTISING IS FRAUDULENT?

[T J Tutor]

DID YOU KNOW THAT 1/3 OF ALL ONLINE ADVERTISING IS FRAUDULENT?​

That's what I read over at Pacedm today in an article showcasing new Infographic from Invespcro demonstrating the results of their study of the online advertising industry.

The bulk of the fraud is of course bots. Not that they operate alone, there is still the human element of fraud traffic as well. However, the bot industry definitely sums up to about one third, one dollar in three, be credited with fraud.

So, for those of you complaining about the tightening and more stringent requirements of ad networks when applying to them, STOP COMPLAINING! We face a serious issue here and these networks livelihood is on the line when they approve you.

The industry has been getting more honest, and operating at a high level of integrity year after year, but it is tough for the advertisers, the publishers, and those that are in support roles for the industry because while most of us just want a clean and honest white hat business, the world is still producing the black hats of the industry that bring the problems the rest of us suffer by.

When looking at the Info-graphic from Invespcro, it sums up as follows.

• Ad fraud takes $1 for every $3 spent.
• In 2016 online advertisers will lose $7.2 billion globally to bots.
• 37% of advertisers say they are willing to pay 11% more for premium certified human traffic.
• 25% of publishers have no way of detecting non-human traffic.
• Bots account for 56% of all website traffic.
• Bot fraud impacted up to 37% of ads, up from 22% in 2014.
• Approximately 25% of video ad impressions was fraudulent.
• Programmatic video ads had 73% more bots than average.

Guys and Gals, we are part of the fight against fraud. We need to do more, however that happens, to collectively help the industry fight this demon. It costs us heart aches and money.

Now most all of us visit the BH sites from time to time looking for cool techniques to beat the odds. However, any of us that violate a companies TOS, intentionally work with bots, and knowingly create fraudulent campaigns around technologies built specifically to cheat the advertisers and the publishers are simply stealing and causing great harm.

It's the information represented in this info-graphic that results in the SE's, the social sites, and other platforms to push us out and make it difficult for us to find simple and easy means to earn.

The next time you speak to, or work with, someone that says, "hey, I know a great way to cheat the system for some fast bucks", just remember this, YOU ARE CHEATING ME AND MY FELLOW MEMBERS HERE ON AFFILIATEFIX!

 

[Sashoy]

Good post. Yeah its not good to cheat to earn a buck.

 

[Anddrew]

Excellent post. Everyone would use white hat methods, but many are chasing easy money, not stable and fair wages.

 

[Marc]

Only 30%?? I'd have guessed more, at least 50%
But is that really a surprise? One need only look at the governments, how they cheat citizens with false statements and pure lies. Or the rich who have everything, yet again cheat the state.
Then it's no miracle, if the small advertiser and publisher also tries the one or the other fraud.
(No worries, I am a white hat on a white horse )

 

[azgold]

I know it doesn't happen all the time but seems to me that a majority of 'I've been cheated' threads I read here, are actually people who've been trying to cheat a network. I've seen it time and again and simply don't understand it.

1. It doesn't work
2. It's theft, a criminal offense
3. It hurts the whole industry, as well as the affiliate trying to cheat
4. Only done by a dishonest person
5. It doesn't work
6. It doesn't work

Doesn't work long term, anyway. If you have a look at the aforementioned 'I've been cheated' threads, you'll notice that the networks are able to prove that the affiliate had been scamming them.

If those affiliates put that same energy into running honest campaigns, they could have something sustainable.

No worries, I am a white hat on a white horse

Me, too! Even my white horse has a white hat.

 

[Marc]

Doesn't work long term, anyway.
If those affiliates put that same energy into running honest campaigns, they could have some sustainable.

Not to mention the many, many who repeatedly violate the Terms and Conditions of platforms, but then are surprised, if their accounts are closed by Google, PayPal, Facebook, etc...

Me, too! Even my white horse has a white hat.

For that, my white horse stands in a white hut under a white roof

 

[T J Tutor]

But apparently 87.3% of stats quoted online are made up

haha

If you think this is a funny issue being addressed then you are not a serious marketer. The percentages are not the point as much as the criminal behavior that costs all of us a load of pain and money. Disparaging a thread like this is a childish tact and not helpful. If you can't contribute, then don't post!

 

[UKPrize]

If you think this is a funny issue being addressed then you are not a serious marketer. The percentages are not the point as much as the criminal behavior that costs all of a load of pain and money. Disparaging a thread like this is a childish tact and not helpful. If you can't contribute, then don't post!

I do not think it is funny. The point I was making is that with these types of stats you need to look where the figures come from.

AdAge - a marketing publisher who would want to benefit from making claims that bring in new readers. Where did they get their figures from? there is no information about this at all...

ANA - a marketing association. Could they want to protect their members make making disparaging claims about smaller companies who may be competing with their members? Is it in their interest to make the larger, "more stable" companies appear more trustworthy?

IAB - See above... Also this appears to have been taken slightly out of context for maximum impact.

I am not saying that these figures are not worrying, but you need to take all of this information with a massive pinch of salt and ask why the people are putting forward these figures.

So that is why you cannot trust stats that you see online.

Stats should always, ALWAYS, be backed up with exactly where they come from and exactly how they were worked out. If you do not have this information then the figures could be from a sample of 10 not 10,000,000 and be worthless. This Infographic is a great way for the contributors to increase visibility, but does not really definitively teach us anything at all as the figures are not clear, backed up or explained.

 

[T J Tutor]

you need to take all of this information with a massive pinch of salt and ask why the people are putting forward these figures.

You are living in a half baked world. All one has to do is read the stats of Forensiq, Sift Science, zveloLABS, MOZ, and hosts of others that come with statistics so close to one another that they are virtually the same.

But, again, attacking stats isn't helpful here. The fraud is real, ask any network owner, any advertiser, hell even publishers have their traffic stolen and we have to install and maintain scripts to prevent it.

The thread is a discussion of fraud, not statistics. It is an extremely large issue, and it does cost all of us money, and we all need to be cognizant of it and contribute to finding better prevention remedies.

You are "knit picking", being tedious, and trying to discredit the issue by claiming we should take this with "a massive grain of salt". That is being small minded in an attempt to discredit the issue.

 

[farmads]

I believe that networks is the biggest reason why more and more frauders is appeared.
- Technology is outdate. It can not detect fake traffic come from sock, ssh, vpn, devide.. though they always talk they have perfect system to do that. I know frauders now even use automation to fake ip, devide and get leads. Networks lose about technology and their solution is to ask image where frauders promote (it is easy to pass). One solution to know fake traffic is to test speed connection. It always lower than normal. Applood, avazu, matomy,... are sometime defeated by frauders because they are big networks
- Irresponsible. OK! They even know some publishers is frauder but if advertisers dont complain or know it, not banned. I believe that if they want, they can know all frauders in CPA industry.

 

[farmads]

Advertiser must choose right network. The big network must choose right sub network.

 

[Dr. Forum]

Thanks for the share, it is indeed a very resourceful post. Today we are living in the world where everyone want to do his shortcuts to earn a lot. With this in mind, they will always end up coining fake things just to lure the desperate people send the little to them and then they discover. Another tricky I have seen is the one in which you market the products and payment will never come through.

 

[azgold]

Another tricky I have seen is the one in which you market the products and payment will never come through.

It's true that it works the other way around sometimes, too. I don't think it happens nearly as often as fake clicks being sent to offers, though.

Trying to con the advertisers/networks only makes things harder for everyone. Stricter rules, higher minimum entry fees and applications for advertising platforms, etc.

 

[iMonetizeIt]

Thank you for this stats, T J. Now it's interesting to find out how networks actually fight fraudulent users. There are minimum deposits, some networks ask for references, some have custom anti-fraud systems. It would be interesting to hear the modern approaches to fight fraud

 

[T J Tutor]

There are minimum deposits, some networks ask for references, some have custom anti-fraud systems. It would be interesting to hear the modern approaches to fight fraud

All of that!

 

[azgold]

Thank you for this stats, T J. Now it's interesting to find out how networks actually fight fraudulent users. There are minimum deposits, some networks ask for references, some have custom anti-fraud systems. It would be interesting to hear the modern approaches to fight fraud

Some networks reps started to talk about anti-fraud in another thread but I think they moved it to Skype, so people couldn't read what they said.

You know somebody would use the info to cheat the system then cry scammers! when they didn't get paid. *sigh* When will they ever learn?

 

[Chaze]

Skimmers, hate em. I'm kind of surprised it's not 50%

 

[BobanV]

Thank you for this thread. This is definitely the most challenging part of Affiliate marketing. You can see some problems of mine here Fraud affiliates | Page 2 | Affiliate Marketing Forum | AffiliateFix

As someone mentioned there we should create some group to discuss this without being monitored by smarties

 

[Chris Convert2Media]

You are living in a half baked world. All one has to do is read the stats of Forensiq, Sift Science, zveloLABS, MOZ, and hosts of others that come with statistics so close to one another that they are virtually the same.

But, again, attacking stats isn't helpful here. The fraud is real, ask any network owner, any advertiser, hell even publishers have their traffic stolen and we have to install and maintain scripts to prevent it.

The thread is a discussion of fraud, not statistics. It is an extremely large issue, and it does cost all of us money, and we all need to be cognizant of it and contribute to finding better prevention remedies.

You are "knit picking", being tedious, and trying to discredit the issue by claiming we should take this with "a massive grain of salt". That is being small minded in an attempt to discredit the issue.

Hey TJ, in your experience - what kind of fraud trend have you noticed with Mobile guys - I see a lot of IP Reputation flags in Forensiq, Click IP's are all from different addresses, but the actual IP addresses are 3 different ones that are similar and rotated ---- the reason I am having trouble understanding this, is because the advertisers are seeing good ROI's, money being spent but then a significant drop off after 3-4 days - I know this can be frauded as well but I have also heard that Forensiq isnt the best at identifying fraud for mobile and believe me I export all the reports and go over everything - would love to hear your thoughts... thank ya

 

[Ivana Adnium]

DID YOU KNOW THAT 1/3 OF ALL ONLINE ADVERTISING IS FRAUDULENT?​

• Ad fraud takes $1 for every $3 spent.
• In 2016 online advertisers will lose $7.2 billion globally to bots.
• 37% of advertisers say they are willing to pay 11% more for premium certified human traffic.
• 25% of publishers have no way of detecting non-human traffic.
• Bots account for 56% of all website traffic.
• Bot fraud impacted up to 37% of ads, up from 22% in 2014.
• Approximately 25% of video ad impressions was fraudulent.
• Programmatic video ads had 73% more bots than average.

Terrifying stats tbh. I know AM is for turning profit, but the fraud just ends up costing everyone more from the affiliates to the pubs and right down to the hackers themselves. it's a vicious cycle