Programmatic Advertising and its Challenges: Brand Safety and Ad Fraud
Programmatic advertising has revolutionised digital marketing. With its help, brands can target their audiences in real-time, effectively and at scale. But with great power comes great risks. Two of the most significant challenges brands face in the digital space are brand safety (brand safety) and ad fraud (deceptive advertising). In this article, we will explain what these terms mean and how to effectively defend against them.
What is brand safety?
Brand safety refers to a set of measures and strategies to ensure that a brand's advertising is not displayed in the context of harmful, inappropriate or controversial content. For example:
- sites with hateful or extremist content
- disinformation websites
- pornographic content
- violence or criminal activity
Advertising displayed on such sites can damage a brand's reputation, reduce credibility and cause customer churn.
What is ad fraud?
Ad fraud is fraudulent behaviour aimed at misusing digital advertising space. The most common forms include:
- false impressions (ad impressions on non-existent sites or by robots)
- click fraud (clicks generated automatically or via click farms)
- domain spoofing (pretending to be a legitimate site)
- bot traffic (visits from non-existent users)
These practices cost advertisers a lot of money annually and also distort campaign analytics.
How to protect yourself from ad fraud and ensure brand safety?
1. Collaboration with proven DSP and SSP platforms
Use only trusted platforms for programmatic advertisingthat have implemented advanced anti-fraud filters (e.g. AppNexus, Google DV360). Verified platforms often work with third parties (IAS, DoubleVerify, MOAT) to monitor the quality of ad impressions.
2. Whitelists and blacklists
Create whitelists (lists of verified sites where advertising can be displayed) and blacklists (sites to avoid). These lists should be updated regularly.
3. Use of ad verification tools
Deploy technology to ad verificationthat verify where and how your ad is displayed. Some of the best known include:
- Integral Ad Science (IAS)
- DoubleVerify
- MOAT by Oracle
These tools enable brand safety monitoring, viewability and detection of fraudulent behaviour.
4. Transparency and reporting
Ask your suppliers transparent reports about ad placements, traffic sources and metrics. Request log-level dataif possible.
5. Use of artificial intelligence and machine learning
Advanced systems using machine learning can identify traffic anomalies and fraudulent activity in real time, providing a strong defence against ad fraud.
6. Contextual targeting instead of just demographic targeting
Contextual targeting ensures that your ads appear in a thematically appropriate environment that is safe and relevant to your brand.
Why is brand safety and the fight against ad fraud important?
– Protects brand reputation - a negative association with harmful content can have a long-term impact.
– Saves the budget - advertising budgets are not spent on fake impressions or non-existent users.
– Increases customer confidence - Transparency and secure ad placement builds trust between the brand and the target audience.
Conclusion: investing in safety pays off
Digital advertising offers countless opportunities, but also risks. If a brand wants to make the most of programmatic advertising, protection against ad fraud a ensuring brand safety must be its priority. The use of technology, collaboration with experts and consistent monitoring of campaigns are key to effective and safe advertising.
