According to BusinessWire research, it is estimated that by the end of this year advertisers will have lost around $19 billion ($51 million per day) to fraudulent activities, a figure that will continue to rise to $44 billion by 2022. What’s more, considering the sheer scale and availability of programmatic inventory, it is no surprise that the industry is increasingly demanding fraud-free, viewable and brand safe impressions.
Brand safety
As brands continue to capitalise on the scale and reach of digital advertising, it is important that they avoid being associated with damaging content. Risky content, such as violence and gambling, and the rise of fake news in recent years, has created a precarious online landscape for brands to traverse.
In a recent Adweek article, titled What’s the State of Brand Safety in 2018, DoubleVerify president and CEO Wayne Gattinella said that ‘advertisers are keen on identifying inappropriate content before a brand safety disaster occurs.’ He also commented, “It’s far more complex for everyone, including an advertiser, to be able to see through ahead of the environment where their ads are showing.”
Viewability
Viewability is a term that goes hand-in-hand with brand safety. But why is it important?
Viewability as a metric is crucial for gauging ad fraud – advertisers can know whether an ad is not just served, but that the target audience was actually exposed to the ad.
The benefits of pre-bid targeting
DSPs are accountable for the inventory that they source, but they can mitigate the risk of serving fraudulent ads that may be damaging to the brand or have low viewability through pre-bid targeting.
By working with a third-party verification partner like Integral Ad Science, pre-bid targeting ensures ad placement is contextually appropriate, ads are actually seen by humans and risky inventory is excluded. As a result, ROI is maximised, higher viewability is achieved and brands feel safe and protected.
Transparency and trust continue to remain hot topics in the industry – and rightly so. Whilst pre-bid targeting doesn’t completely solve the industry challenge, it goes a long way in helping to build trust between players within the digital ecosystem, whilst ensuring efficient media buying.
