• by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, April 12, 2016

A majority (60%) of marketing and ad-tech professionals said it’s very important to detect fraud, even before impressions are sent to be traded, according to a report from global data company Equinix. One-third of respondents said they are willing to move applications to a new data center for an 11% to 30% reduction in latency time in an effort to reduce fraudulent activities.

The survey, concerning fraud in programmatic advertising, was released in conjunction with ExchangeWire. The findings suggest  these professionals realize that preventing fraudulent activities earlier in the bid process reduces the chance for fraudulent behavior in subsequent phases. Keeping the digital media supply chain fraud-free is top-of-mind.

Of course within the research findings, Equinix plugs its carrier neutral data centers, which it says can accelerate the bidding and trading of ad inventory through an optimized infrastructure. Equinix  customers include ad exchanges, media buyers, data platforms, data aggregators and ad networks. The company claims that trading within the ecosystem of a neutral data center significantly reduces the possibility of fraud at each stage of the bidding process.

The global study surveyed 128 marketing and ad-tech professionals.

Among the survey’s other findings:

-- Media buying efficiency was cited as the main advantage to using a neutral data center with secure ecosystems by marketers in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region (73%), APAC (Asia/Pacific) (69%) and the U.S. (62%). Within Latin America, reduced fraud levels (58%) were cited as the main advantage, while APAC (44%) and the U.S. (47%) cited reduced fraud levels as the second greatest advantage.

-- Eighty-three percent of respondents in Latin America and 80% in EMEA believe that the detection of fraud before ad impressions are sent to be traded is either essential or very important. Results were slightly lower within the U.S. (61%) and APAC (74%).