Fraud is top of mind with digital advertisers but is the industry doing enough? Well, it depends greatly on who you're listening to.
There seems to be no denying that billions of ad dollars are wasted annually; digital advertisers feel increasingly helpless, and despite all their proclaimed sophistication, advertising technology companies can't seem to eliminate it (much less even get a handle on it) - but they are making some progress.
Adobe's TubeMogul, for example, recently published some data that shows how it is fighting the video ad fraudsters and the steps it is taking to protect its partners and its ecosystem in general.
The company indicated that it has issued refunds to over 100 customers (totaling over $700,000 U.S. in the past year), indicated it has identified, blacklisted and blocked over 16,000 websites, has formed partnerships with eight inventory partners to refund clients for invalid traffic, and developed integrations with DoubleVerify (in addition to White Ops FraudSensor) to provide an additional layer to isolate invalid traffic.
"We have always said that one fraudulent impression is one too many, which is why we are proud that our industry-leading adoption of brand safety tools effectively protects our clients from suspicious traffic," noted Brett Wilson, vice president and general manager of advertising at Adobe.