Blog

Steve Guenther, VP of Digital Auditing Services, AAM

While digital advertising revenues are growing, developments in the marketplace pose some new challenges and opportunities. Near the top of the list of concerns of marketers today is minimizing fraudulent and nonhuman traffic. Although the two are far from synonymous, both result in unseen ads, brand safety issues and false audience numbers that undermine advertisers’ trust and confidence.

All parties involved in interactive advertising—from advertisers and agencies to publishers, tech companies and networks–can and must do something about this, as it is a scourge affecting all aspects of digital media, from desktop to mobile.

In the U.S., advertisers are rallying around key initiatives like the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) “The Marketers’ Coalition” and a new project from the Media Rating Council (MRC) (to which AAM is contributing digital expertise) that will modernize and strengthen industry standards around nonhuman traffic (NHT) and invalid traffic (IVT) controls. Both of these are hugely important because:

• Advertisers are taking serious steps to clean up a marketplace sullied by some bad actors, and
• Industry standard-setting bodies are looking to improve and strengthen self-regulatory guidelines that have already helped the digital media space be as viable as it is.

In this context, it is important for advertisers to examine how they purchase digital media by focusing on efforts around brand safety, ad viewability and fighting against ad fraud and nonhuman traffic. Advertisers are losing valuable ad dollars as their media partners, in many cases unknowingly, profit from fraud and nonhuman traffic. It is time for these marketers to ask the right questions and take the necessary steps to apply the top-down pressure required to bring about improvements and minimize bad behavior.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Media Rating Council, ACA, AAM and other bodies are doing fine, admirable work to help improve supply chain quality, minimize fraud and improve ad viewability standards and practices. But some have referred to the fight as akin to playing whack-a-mole – eliminate fraud in one area and it quickly pops up in another.

Steve Guenther will be appearing at the ACA’s Executive Forum on October 7 to speak on this very subject. He is part of the panel discussion, ‘What’s Right for Canada?’ where leading players will discuss solutions to how Canadian advertisers, agencies and publishers can partner together to combat fraudulent activity and protect everyone invested in the online advertising ecosystem.

No one expects that the industry will ever eliminate fraud outright. But that is not to say that nothing can be done. There are several ways, I believe, the industry can address the problem. This includes instituting a number of standard controls (business/operational/financial) that will deter or detect fraudsters:

Advertisers

• Advertisers/agencies/networks/SSPs must vet all business partners (publishers) before agreeing to do business with them. Insist that the ad platforms your agencies, publishers and networks use have been certified to industry best practices.
• Advertisers/agencies/networks/SSPs can monitor business partners for unreasonable increases, poor performing campaigns, or erratic traffic fluctuations. Discrepancies can then be investigated.
• Get rid of the bad actors (bad traffic sources and publishers who cheat).
• Special consideration/monitoring should be in place for ad networks, RTB and other players that do not have a direct relationship with the publisher/advertiser.
• Include the right to audit in agreements with inventory providers.

Publishers

• Publishers must vet all traffic sources to ensure high quality, particularly those sources that are compensated.
• Publishers must employ internal controls to monitor employees that receive rewards for traffic increases.
• Include the right to audit in agreements with traffic providers.
• Become certified against the IAB’s Quality Assurance Guidelines, which offer a framework for industry adherence to practices that promote brand safety and trust.
• Implement advertising technology solutions that have been certified to industry best practices.

Technology Companies

• Technology companies should be certified to industry best practices to ensure that adequate systems and internal controls are in place. This includes, but is not limited to, the IAB Measurement Guidelines, the IAB Quality Assurance Guidelines (QAG) and the MRC Minimum Standards.
• Technology companies can employ technical and statistical tools that can assist in uncovering fraudulent users and traffic sources.
• Follow the money – identify baseline metrics and compare how much companies are being paid over time in comparison to other metrics.
• There are numerous vendors that offer some form of fraud detection or prevention services today. That’s a good thing. However, this market segment is still in its infancy and we have a long way to go to before bad behavior is truly contained and minimized.

Our company, the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM), has worked with well-known organizations in each of the above market segments as they’ve taken a leadership stance to ensure accountability, transparency and trust. More companies in the digital space need to follow this lead. But for this move to greater accountability to occur, there must first be advertiser demand for independent certifications to industry standards for quality and transparency. Let’s address ad fraud, brand safety and nonhuman traffic in a meaningful way starting now. And it starts with you. Will you do your part?

Steve Guenther
As VP, Auditing, Guenther brings over 25 years of auditing experience in a media environment and has been a leading pioneer in the auditing of Internet activity dating back to 1996. Guenther oversees the audit team on a daily basis and provides guidance and support for the engagements performed by ImServices. Guenther also supervises the maintenance of the IAB /ABC International Spider & Bots list for the Industry and is the lead trainer for the IAB’s Quality Assurance Program (QAG).