Report: We can win the war on ad fraud

White Ops has released the new Bot Baseline Report, and among the more interesting findings is this: economic losses from bot fraud have declined to $6.5 billion (global); that is a 10% decrease from last year's report, and is a leading reason that experts now believe the battle against bot fraud can be won.

"Marketers worldwide are successfully adopting strategies and tactics to fight digital ad fraud," said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. "This is a powerful indicator that the war on digital ad fraud is winnable for those who establish proper controls and protocols. And that is exceptionally good news for the advertising, marketing, and media communities worldwide."

Researchers found traffic is still the biggest risk factor for bot fraud, with at least 3x as much ad fraud coming from 'sourced' traffic than non-sourced. According to the report about 22% of video spending was fraudulent, along with about 9% of desktop display. Mobile saw a less than 2% fraud rate from in-app as well as display buys.

"Despite the proliferation of fraud detection mechanisms, bots continue to become more sophisticated and evasive," said Michael Tiffany, CEO at White Ops. "With this in mind, we're pleased to see ad fraud rates decline in the ANA 2016-2017 Bot Baseline Report. But, as these declines are relatively modest, it's critical that those affected by this threat remain vigilant. We look forward to collaborating as an industry to continue fighting the war on fraud and advise others to follow the industry best practices of many ANA members."

The full study results can be downloaded here.

Tags: advertising, advertising fraud, advertising spend, ANA, White Ops