OTT Ad Inventory: 18% Is Fraudulent
- by Alex Weprin , March 7, 2019
The advertising technology firm MadHive says based on its own internal estimates, 18% of over-the-top video ad requests are fraudulent. The company came up with that number by examining approximately 1 billion requests that flowed through its platform.
The fraudulent ad requests span misrepresentation (data and inventory), device-based fraud and app-based fraud.
While OTT platforms have many built-in advantages compared to more open digital platforms, scammers and fraudsters are still targeting the space, with its rich premium ad inventory, and comparably high ad rates.
MadHive released the ad fraud data to coincide with the launch of its suite of technology solutions designed to combat fraud, while ensuring trust, transparency, and brand safety.
The company says Premion, the OTT ad platform owned by TEGNA, is now using the new suite of tools.
MadHive is best known for incorporating cryptography and blockchain into its technology solutions, and the new suite is no exception. The company says it uses blockchain to guarantee audiences and video impressions across platforms.
The full suite includes and audience device graph, a targeting solution, audience verification tools and cross-device attribution.
Christiana Cacciapuoti, executive director at AdLedger, the nonprofit consortium building and implementing the blockchain standards for digital advertising, says the MadHive/Premion deal is a good case study for how blockchain can be incorporated into future solutions.
“This product integration is a huge step for how cryptography and blockchain can be leveraged to its fullest potential in the digital advertising industry,” Cacciapuoti states.
There is a very simple way to fix part of the problem. Let the publisher's hand place the videos and the contents in their publiications. We have published over 70,000 sweepstakes, all hand placed, hand edited and we hand place pictures and videos. What the solutions to fight the scammers and fraudsters is more like playing the game - Robots vs. Robots. The bad guys have proven resilient and as bad as the Ebola virus. I am conivced that this is a not win game plan. The only true solution is to go back to the trade desk with real humans. Yes, it cost money but it proven to be a great ROI for advertisers and adgencies.
Absolutely right, Craig.