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Arpit Jain
In the wake of a tremendous technical boom, India has embraced and spearheaded the technological surge that has transformed businesses. As of 2023, India boasted over 600 million internet users, a testament to our stride toward technological supremacy. This phenomenon has reimagined how people engage with the digital realm, how they encounter content, interact with ads, and more.
Central to this tech boom is the pivotal roles played by ad networks and adtech firms. They are facilitators and architects of a new digital landscape where they have orchestrated seamless user experiences, creating contextual ads and personalised ads that resonate with users.
However, amid this progress, one lurking yet persistent challenge is ad fraud. This has not just disrupted the user experience but has also put ad networks under a microscope. Let’s briefly examine ad fraud and its implications.
What is ad fraud and why does it matter
Ad fraud is when illicit players in the adtech landscape generate invalid clicks, impressions, or conversion data for their financial gain. It wastes the advertisers’ budget and can cause a loss of revenue for publishers. It also reflects poorly on ad networks that seek to connect publishers with credible advertisers.
By undermining the value of the adtech ecosystem, ad frauds have left users skeptical of the ads they encounter. This poses a risk by causing users to opt for ad blockers. This, in turn, affects the adtech industry by causing the audience to shrink and revenue to decrease.
Publishers, who rely on authentic user engagement are affected when ad fraud inflates their metrics artificially. Additionally, consumers are also directly affected since ad fraud can result in exposure to irrelevant, inappropriate, or even malicious ads.
Ad networks have faced substantial challenges while trying to combat ad fraud since they prove to be damaging to their reputation. This risk extends beyond financial losses as it negatively impacts the relationships between ad networks, advertisers, and publishers.
But, amid all these challenges, there are many options to counter these issues. Let’s examine them closely.
Actionable measures to counter ad fraud
There are proven case studies on how players who engage in programmatic buying have leveraged the help of third-party platforms to combat ad frauds. Among them consumer-packaged goods (CPG) marketers are most susceptible to ad fraud. They successfully enlisted the help of Integral Ad Science (IAS) to combat their ad fraud issues.
IAS worked with a CPG brand to detect ad fraud and also remove it from the inventory they would bid on. IAS helped eliminate fraudulent inventory and helped the CPG achieve quality media buys. By working with credible DSPs, IAS helped reduce ad fraud with weekly tracking and monitoring.
Alternatively, adtech players can also leverage machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced data analytics to combat ad fraud. These technologies can process and simply vast datasets that might elude human detection. They also study patterns adopted by fraudsters and identify them with ease.
Adtech companies ensure transparency and data integrity throughout the ad delivery process. They offer real-time insights into ad placements and the origin of traffic and empower advertisers and help publishers make informed decisions about where their ads are being displayed. Furthermore, with the help of advanced technologies such as blockchain, these companies provide an absolute record of ad transactions, bolstering trust and accountability.
Other fraud prevention technologies to verify the authenticity of users and devices are also crucial. Device fingerprinting, IP validation, and user behavior analytics can be integrated into the adtech landscape. Bot detection and mitigation solutions will also help identify and block traffic that causes invalid clicks and impressions.
Further, the relevant stakeholders can engage in collaborative efforts to counter ad fraud effectively. Partnerships between advertisers, publishers, ad networks, or agencies can pool resources, bring diverse amounts of expertise, and try to outmaneuver fraudsters.
These entities can share data, insights, and best practices and create a repository of knowledge to identify and prevent ad fraud. Transparency and collaborative data sharing can significantly help reduce ad fraud.
The government can also play a significant role in setting up a fraud-free adtech landscape. By establishing specific laws and regulatory bodies, legal authorities can help combat these issues. At present there is no specialized law for ad fraud but Consumer Protection Act, 1986, and the Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 strive hard to ensure that users are not affected by malicious ads. A much more robust legal framework that offers a legal recourse for victims can be a potential deterrent.
Legal bodies can also ensure that there is adherence to industry standards and regulations by advertisers, publishers, and ad networks. This will help maintain a transparent ad ecosystem.
Concluding words
In India’s dynamic digital landscape, ad frauds are not mere challenges but a call to action for all relevant stakeholders. The issue of ad fraud demands a united response. By forging alliances and embracing modern solutions, it is surely possible to reimagine a secure and prosperous future for Digital India
The author is the founder and CEO of PubScale and GreedyGame
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