OpenX is an online ad exchange that has seen a lot of success over the past several years. In 2014 they brought in over $100 million in net revenues, and they have said that their goal is to compete with Google AdWords to become the top ad exchange in the world. While they have a ways to go before they do that, they are still a significant player in the game.
One of the things that OpenX has been focused on over the years is combating ad fraud in all its forms. They recognize that this is the number one threat to the success of digital advertising today. The CEO of OpenX, Tim Cadogan, was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about ad fraud and the future of programmatic advertising. In the interview, he had some interesting things to say.
When he was asked about where the responsibility lays for combating ad fraud, Cadogan said that there is plenty of responsibility to go around. Everyone needs to be working together to combat this problem, because it is impacting everyone. He went on saying, “But we have to take full responsibility for what is being traded in our marketplace; we have to check, validate, and enforce the quality of the traffic.”
Another key statistic that he mentioned was that the OpenX exchange actually turns away approximately one third of the total volume that comes to their network.
Another interesting point in the interview was when the WSJ asked whether or not it was actually possible to eliminate ad fraud, or if it was something that just had to be tolerated at some level.
Cadogan gave an honest answer when he said, “I think somewhere around 90% or maybe a bit lower is realistic. You can’t get it to zero…” He was referring to the percentage of fraud in the market, indicating that the best he feels we can hope for is about a 10% loss due to fraud. When you compare that to many other industries (retail for example) a 10% loss due to fraud is not unheard of.
The interview went on and covered some interesting topics. Whenever digital marketing is talked about candidly in a globally recognized publication, it is well worth the time to read. You can see it all on the WSJ page HERE.
