Ad fraud refers to malicious or nefarious activity that occurs along the ad chain.
Ad Fraud usually involves the creation of fake impressions, clicks, or conversions on ads. Its purpose is to generate fraudulent revenue for the attacker or artificially boost the metrics used to evaluate ad performance.
Ad fraud can take many forms:
- Bot traffic: an attacker uses a network of automated software programs (bots) to generate fake impressions, clicks, or conversions on advertisements.
- Click injection: an attacker manipulates the tracking data associated with an advertisement to create false clicks.
- Ad stacking: an attacker places multiple advertisements on top of one another in a way that only the top ad is visible to the viewer, but all the ads are counted as impressions.
Ad fraud poses an escalating and grave concern for the online advertising sector. This malicious activity squanders advertising budgets and erodes users' confidence in online advertisements. Advertisers stand to lose millions of dollars annually to ad fraud, and the issue is progressively evolving, making detection more intricate.
To safeguard against ad fraud, advertisers and publishers must deploy a blend of technical solutions, while adhering to best practices such as utilizing reputable ad networks and exchanges.
At Venatus, we place special emphasis on clean traffic. Having business partnerships with some of the most premium brands in the world, we want to ensure our ads are not just seen by real humans but we also provide a safe environment for our advertisers.
- We work with our publishers on various improvements related to UX and UI elements to ensure ads are viewable and served in a safe environment.
- We work with an external security partner – Clean IO – who shields our inventory from malvertising and provides monthly reports on their efforts.
- We also undergo an annual audit to obtain TAG recertification, a seal of approval confirming Venatus is a brand-safe and ad fraud-free company.
- We have an internal task force that reviews policy-related issues internally as well as regularly reach out to our publishers, ensuring they have a better understanding of the guidelines in place.