• by Philip Rosenstein , July 24, 2017

Ad fraud is the biggest industry challenge cited by both marketers and publishers according to U.K.-based Infectious Media, which announced on Monday it was releasing a new guide to help brands stay safe online.

In one study cited by Infectious, 33% of marketers say they are troubled by ad fraud, with brand safety next (picked by 26%) followed by viewability (21%), transparency (17%) and geocompliance (3%),

Differing slightly in their priorities, 44% of publishers consider ad fraud their biggest problem, followed by issues with transparency (picked by 19%), brand safety (18%), viewability (15%) and geocompliance (4%).

The current way that many brands address ad fraud and brand safety -- whitelisting trusted publishers and restricting where ads will run --  often drives up overall CPMs and can significantly decrease ROI, according to Infectious.

The guide suggests that brand marketers use a layered approach in their advertising strategy that includes human expertise and technology.

It's especially important to ensure full data transparency from agencies and ad-tech partners. Simple measurement models like reach, clicks, click-through-rates, viewability and other metrics can be modified by untrustworthy parties. The guide gives marketers tips on how to reset measurement metrics in order to fix media quality issues.

“Many in the industry are understandably worried about advertising spend being wasted because of poor quality media in the supply chain,” stated Andy Cocker, COO and co-founder of Infectious Media. “However, the benefits of programmatic for our clients still far outweigh the risks."

He added, "It’s crucial now that media agencies and ad-tech companies play their full part in increasing awareness and driving up standards.”