The F Word

The WFA has published its Global Media Charter 2023 building on the 2018 edition from which various inmarket crossmedia measurement initiatives including ISBAamp8217s Origin emerged There are many good things about this new version and a lot of people did a lot of work but you just knew there had to be a quotbutquot a major issue has been avoidedBefore getting to whatamp8217s not there credit where itamp8217s due The GMC addresses a number of highly pertinent topicsCompetition ampamp PluralityMeasurement ampamp AccountabilityResponsibility ampamp SocietySustainability ampamp PlanetPeople ampamp PartnersEach topic area has identified quotchampionsquot responsible for delivering to the policy as outlined and agreed All fine and dandy Who doesnamp8217t want a sustainable planet Or a responsible society But thereamp8217s an omissionWeamp8217re talking about the quotFquot word fraudLet me take you back to the great transparency scandal of March 2015 This started Cog Blog readers will remember when Jon Mandel MediaComamp8217s exCEO told the ANA that agencies didnamp8217t always return all discounts and rebates to their clients and that deals were struck before plans were written Buys drove plans in other wordsCue outrage shock and horror amongst the US advertiser community Advertisers were caught on the hop Their contracts were too loose too ambiguous too easy for certain agencies who chose to do so to hide revenuesThe WFA could and should have got ahead of thisBack to today The elephant in the room facing advertisers today is the colossal amount of fraud that has permeated the online ad world and especially those campaigns bought programmatically with little oversight from agency buyers We can argue why this lack of oversight happens but what is simply unarguable is that the amount of money wasted by advertisers to enrich fraudsters is hugeHow huge we can also argue but even the ANA which seem to studiously avoid the topic to the extent of removing very large estimates from their own website would have little problem with an annual estimate of quotover US70 billionquotAs with Mandel those in the know know this is a major problemHereamp8217s the exISBA Media Director Bob Wootton in his regular Media Leader column a few days ago discussing the implications of AI the italics are Bobamp8217s quotExpect all the crooks and bad actors already active in online advertising about which we continue to do little to be very active indeed in the new spacesquotOr again from the Media Leader a headline that CTV ad fraud costs advertisers up to 8m a month This from a report by the Video Advertising Bureau which whilst admitting the problem seems to underplay its extent based on the US70 billion annual loss quoted earlierDr Augustine Fou the independent fraud detection expert who has done more to raise awareness of fraud issues than anyone had this to say quotThis the claim that there are limited opportunities for fraud within CTV is only true if ad buyers bought CTV ads directly from those media sellers Everything else in programmatic channels is bad guys pretending to be those premium CTV channels and the media sellers cannot prevent any of it themselvesquotDr Fou went on to make some not particularly flattering remarks about the VABamp8217s report Iamp8217m of an age that would file their findings under quotMandy RiceDaviesquot but thatamp8217s probably just meBy the way if you donamp8217t follow Dr Fou you should Heamp8217s generous in his sharing of data and explanations around fraud Here39s an example of his latest thinking on focussing on humansSo why isnamp8217t the WFA helping members address fraud Could it perhaps be becauseAdvertiser marketing and media teams have been caught out for years and donamp8217t want to shine a light on past failings The reality is that the fraudsters have been winning against everyone for ages It must be better to act later than neverLarge wellfunded fraud detection businesses are supported by the biggest network media agencies in order to demonstrate that fraud is a nonissue that theyamp8217re on top ofShamefully most on the buy side have no interest in uncovering the true extent of ad fraudEven if they wanted to agency teams are understaffed and underqualified to do anything except rely on programmatic systems to place online activityAs long as nobody looks too carefully at the makeup of impressions the notional CPM delivered is very low satisfying procurement teams and again underqualified auditorsAs bots donamp8217t buy stuff this looking the other way and relying on fake numbers will eventually come to lightThe WFAamp8217s Media Charter praises ISBAamp8217s work with PwC on how money flows around the online supply chain This has indeed been pragmatic involving and helpfulAs far as I can see the WFA makes no mention as to how advertisers can get to grips with ad fraud Thatamp8217s a mistake that the two Measurement and Accountability quotChampionsquot Reckittamp8217s Sameer Amin and PespsiCoamp8217s Atin Kulkarni should be addressingThey may want to give Dr Fou a callPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

The F Word

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Brian Jacobs

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

The F Word

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Brian Jacobs

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

Cookies