Advertising associations IAB Switzerland and SWA publish white paper on ad fraud
As part of the joint transparency initiative of the two advertising associations IAB Switzerland Association and Schweizer Werbe-Auftraggeberverband (SWA), a white paper is published that sheds light on the problem of unwanted advertising contacts. The paper provides clarification on the metrics commonly used in the market, definitions for standardization of reporting and thus a basis for certification of systems.
One of the challenges of the digital advertising market is "ad fraud" or "invalid traffic," i.e., the identification of advertising contacts that do not meet the requirements of the booking or cooperation and which advertisers therefore potentially do not want to and should not pay for. These unwanted advertising contacts can be divided into fraudulent ones, which arise from a criminal energy, and those that do not meet the booking requirements and/or participation conditions without fraudulent intent, for example due to faulty ad server or targeting tool settings. In recent years, the online marketing industry has therefore developed methods and tools to identify these advertising contacts and to map them in reports for the advertising customers.
However, there is no clear definition of the term "ad fraud. As a result, the values collected and published by the various providers of ad verification systems on the market on the subject of ad fraud vary considerably in some cases. In day-to-day business, this often leads to discrepancies between the booking and managing agencies, the customers and the marketers of the advertising spaces. In addition, it causes confusion and uncertainty when providers go public with very different figures for the overall market.
The advertising associations IAB Switzerland and SWA have therefore adapted a white paper on "Invalid Traffic" prepared by the German association BVDW to the Swiss market and have set themselves the goal of creating a basis for standardized reporting and for certification of the systems offered on the market for the detection of "Invalid Traffic". In addition to an explanation of the metrics commonly used on the market, the paper provides definitions that can be used to standardize reporting and thus form the basis for certification of the systems.
The managing directors of the two associations, Roger Baur (IAB) and Roland Ehrler (SWA), are delighted that they have been able to jointly launch a second important initiative in the interests of market transparency in such a short time, and that the white paper has now brought clarity to the much-discussed topic of ad fraud.
The whitepaper is available for free download at Iab-switzerland.ch, or under Swa-asa.ch available (Direct link PDF).
