The rise of programmatic advertising, the automated buying and selling of ads online, has sparked a number of concerns from brands, publishers, and advertisers alike about wasted ad dollars and fraud.
From the quality of ad inventory to fraudulent traffic, ad fraud can cost brands and advertisers millions each year.
The Interactive
According to the IAB, if suppliers (from supply side platfroms (SSPs) to ad networks) follow these guidelines, then fraud should quickly be stamped out of the industry.
It's a three-pronged solution. The three standards are fraud detection, source identification, and process transparency.
Here's how the IAB identifies those three sections on its website:
- Fraud Detection: Suppliers must implement technological and business practices to identify ad bots and illegitimate human activity, and prevent such traffic from being sold
- Source Identification: Suppliers should provide assurances to buyers that inventory is from a legitimate source; one way to achieve this is by providing the specific URL of an ad placement
- Process Transparency: Suppliers must provide details of the business and technical processes they have employed to meet the first two principles
These three points are also accompanied by a "proposed taxonomy," or set of defenitions for terms including "Hijacked Devices," "AdWare Traffic," and "Cookie-Stuffing."
An "Anti-Malware Working Group" has also been formed. This group will be tasked with identifying malware attacks and coming up with solutions to stop them.