New research suggests that ad fraud may cost brands $16.4 billion globally this year, and that nearly 20% of total digital ad spend was wasted in 2016. That's according to a report by Adloox which looked at "invalid traffic" in which bots rather than humans view or click on adverts on websites. This type of traffic was estimated to cost advertisers $12.5 billion in 2016, according to the ad verification company. "However, the figures from agency group The&Partnership estimates the cost will increase by almost $4 billion this year. It worked with Adloox to look at 200 billion 'bid requests,' …

Posterscope launched what it's calling a Dynamic Scheduling service which offers clients access to programmatic ad-serving across all digital out-of-home campaigns. The offering is programmatic in the sense that different creative messages from the same campaign are served based on time, place, and audience, The Drum reports. "Digital billboard ads can be optimized hourly by location to target a specific audience within an area through artificial intelligence. A 'genetic algorithm’ can compare millions of locations and their hourly audiences in order to identify the optimum content schedule." Posterscope "developed the technology in response to its own research that showed …

In a sign that programmatic TV is gaining traction, Sky Media has launched a second test-and-learn phase on its programmatic TV road map, "which means expanding the platforms and inventory that are available through the new Sky AVx (Audio Visual Exchange) and, for the first time, giving buyers the capability to purchase audiences and make decisions in real-time on Sky’s owned and operated TV and VOD inventory, all in an automated way," according to a reort on Videonet.  "The pilot phase ran earlier in the year with Omnicom, which was able to purchase Sky’s first Programmatic Broadcast Solution via Sky …

Ad tech vets are working with Nasdaq to launch the New York Interactive Advertising Exchange, a technology platform designed to bring Wall Street sensibilities to the buying and selling of advertising inventory, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. While it's a goal shared by many companies and executives in the programmatic ad sector, the NYIAX aims to "facilitate the sale and trading of digital ad space as guaranteed contracts and plans to eventually branch into TV ad inventory. Unlike existing exchanges where digital ads are often sold in 'real time,' NYIAX is focusing on the ad space …

Digital ad spending in the U.S. is estimated to rise 16% this year to $83 billion, spurred by Google’s ongoing dominance in the search ad market and Facebook's growing share of display and mobile advertising, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast. "Google’s U.S. revenue from digital ads is expected to increase about 15% this year, while Facebook’s will jump 32%, more than previously expected, according to the market research company’s latest forecast report," the Wall Street Journal reported. However, the paper reports that Google’s share of the U.S. market will decrease slightly to 40.7% in 2017, as Facebook "steals share from …

Facebook rolled out a new tool called "Advanced Measurement" that's designed to enable advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns across Facebook's properties compared to how they performed on competitor sites and apps, according to a Business Insider report. "Advertisers can soon use Advanced Measurement to assess which platforms — such as Facebook, Instagram, search, or display ads on Google — drove the most purchases on their online store, or had the highest reach among their desired target audience." The launch comes as large platforms like Facebook and Google are under pressure from advertisers to deliver more transparent measurement and metrics for digital ad …

Facebook has begun flagging "fake news" in consumers' feeds with a "disputed" warning label. When Facebook spots suspicious news stories the content will come with a "disputed" label and links to fact-checking sites that explain why the story isn't truthful, according to a Recode report. But does this go far enough?

Facebook is looking to get into TV-like video programming in several genres--sports, science, pop culture, lifestyle, gaming, and teens, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The social media giant has been talking with producers about buying programming that are likely to bulld on its efforts with Facebook Live. Ricky Van Veen, the head of global creative strategy at Facebook, is heading up the effort.

Recode's Peter Kafka wonders whether Snapchat is going public too soon. But, he reports, that Snap Inc., Snapchat's parent company, has a unique view and so its IPO is bound to be different as well. That IPO is set for today, by the way. Still, Kafka writes, "even by internet company standards, Snap isn’t sure, exactly, how it’s going to make money — it’s just sure that it will, and that it will make a lot of it," Kafka reports. "Snap’s story is fuzzier. Instead of a single ad product at the center of its pitch, it has two: “Creative …

Whole-50 chats with Megan Pagliuca, CEO of Omnicom Media Group’s Accuen since 2015, about her early career starting out at Right Media through its acquisition by Yahoo. She says: "They [Yahoo] had bought us, but we all spent a lot of the time convincing them why they wanted to be in the [programmatic] business. The fear of price cannibalization of their class one inventory ensured an ongoing war with the Right Media change agenda versus many on the Yahoo side. We built out business cases and economic models that showed Yahoo inventory was being arbitraged – specifically, inventory bought in …