DoubleVerify, an industry leader in digital performance solutions, has recently announced that they have discovered a massive video ad fraud operation that is likely causing brands millions (or more). The system is said to affect more than 1% of all video ad impressions that take place on the internet today. This is, needless to say, a huge find for the company.
The fraud is effectively an ad impression laundering scheme, which is taking ads that are sold for premium prices, and having them displayed to low grade sites such as pirated content, incentivized traffic sites, or even not displaying them at all. The system works by bouncing the ad impressions through multiple URLs, and ‘front sites’ that are masking themselves as real publishers.
There are more than 500 sites that are involved with the scheme, and they are using advanced technologies to deceive marketers, brands and likely even some ad fraud detection systems.
Wayne Gattinella, CEO of DoubleVerify, said “URL masking is designed to mislead the online marketplace and we’re now seeing this bait and switch ad fraud quickly moving to online video. At DV we’re actively protecting our clients with strong, scalable technology that provides the transparency necessary to drive more video ad dollars online.”
There is no word yet as to how, or even if, this fraud ring is being shut down. As of the press release publication, it doesn’t seem like it is. Though DoubleVerify has likely taken steps within their own internal systems to ensure their customers do not fall prey to the scams.
Whatever the situation with this latest story about digital advertising fraud, it is good that they have been uncovered. Hopefully this will save many people a lot of money.
