Report: 90% of Web Ad Views Are Fraudulent

A new report from Augustine Fou, an independent ad fraud researcher, finds widespread fraud within the online advertising industry, due primarily to the widespread use of bots. In fact, the problem has gotten so bad that Fou decided to publish his report earlier than usual. He said, “It’s about 60 to 100 percent fraud, with an average of 90 percent, but it is not evenly distributed.”

On quality websites, Fou finds that $1 in advertising spending buys $0.68 worth of true ad impressions, but on ad networks, that same $1 buys only $0.07 worth of real advertising. And on open ad exchanges, $1 gets $0.01 worth of ads.

“The problem has been getting worse,” Fou said. “And the recent reports from industry trade [publications] that ad fraud is going lower and mobile fraud is non-existent is simply because they can’t measure it. The bots are getting better at hiding, so they are seeing less and less of it. But more and more fraud is happening.”

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