Unless you’re under a rock, you’ve probably read somewhere that fraud is really killing the online marketing industry. On a constant basis we are reminded that upwards of 50% of all advertising is all fraudulent, and most video ads aren’t being by anyone except some kid in China being paid $.50 an hour to click on the videos. Even worse, bot traffic seems to be “sexy” now, with most companies refusing to do anything about it.
With all this, agencies have asked that the online advertising industry take fraud more seriously, so that people get what they for, instead of bot strewn fake traffic that never converts.
Enter the Internet Advertising Bureau, the de-facto professiojnal group for online marketing and advertising companies. For dozens of years they have been pushing the idea that “impressions” are worth a lot, even with high levels of fraud, and that most of their members were providing value.
Now they have a better idea: forget impressions, forget conversions and any sort of metric, except “How does the Consumer Feel?” Yes, they are promoting the idea of “Feeling Good Metrics” which will gauge how consumers feel at that moment. Since 50% of programmatic advertising is being shown to no one, and at the same time many consumers are really upset about all the intrusive advertising, why bother them?
Simply, as IAB President and CEO Randall “Rauchy” Rotherberg said, “Let’s stop worrying about stuff we can’t control, such if the advertisement is actually seen, but instead focus on what really is important: our feelings.”
He made it clear that “the digital media and marketing industry is part of a huge shift in what we think of marketing and advertising, and since facts and truth are in play, they should be such in marketing.”
If a consumer doesn’t want to see a banner ad at that particular point, why show it to them? Instead show the ad to a bot in china, which isn’t bothered, but charge the advertiser a premium for not bothering the consumer.
Rothenberg reinforced the idea that advertising metrics are nebulous, and that premium inventory should be priced completely different than anything else. “Marketing has reached a new level beyond metrics, beyond eyeballs and now is in the post-fact realm.”
