Two developments concerning online ad fraud made headlines this week, creating a rather precarious situation for an industry still trying to earn a bigger share of marketing dollars. A story about the rise of invisible ad units and the shuttering of the largest known click fraud ring were potentially ugly developments for the industry, but both agencies and ad networks have responded by making public moves to address the problems.
One way to deal with fraud is with more human interaction, according to Joelle Kaufman, SVP of WW markeing for Adify. In a blog post, Kaufman said that every network should have a human overseeing its site selection process. At the same time, she called for more transparency, urging networks to reveal every website they work with.
Other ad networks have gone so far as to offer guarantees covering their work. Undertone Networks will pay advertisers $50,000 if it fails to serve the advertisements on high-quality websites, according to The Wall Street Journal.
New companies have also sprung up to help advertisers audit their campaigns. These include DoubleVerify, Anchor Intelligence, and AdXpose.
