Digital ad fraud to hit $US68B this year: Juniper Research

Digital advertising fraud will cost brands $68 billion globally this year, rising from $59 billion in 2021. The figures are contained in a new study from Juniper Research which identifies the US, Japan, China, South Korea and the UK  as the five countries most impacted by advertising fraud.

The five markets alone account for 60 per cent of global losses.

US most impacted

Research author Scarlett Woodford remarked: “With the US representing such a significant market in terms of advertising spend, campaigns in North America will undoubtedly attract the attention of fraudulent players. This will lead to unprecedented innovation in fraud tactics within the US, with advertisers demonstrating a greater requirement for fraud detection and mitigation services.”

The study, called Digital Advertising Fraud: Key Trends, Competitor Landscape & Market Forecasts 2022-2026, found that those advertising in the US will potentially suffer the most in financial loss due to fraudulent activity, with total losses in the US expected to surpass $23 billion in 2022.

The US represents the largest market for digital advertising spend, with high levels of Internet penetration and elevated mobile app and browser usage presenting strong opportunities for the display of promotional content.

Detection & Mitigation

The study's author say the leading digital advertisers targeting these five markets need to form strategic partnerships with ad fraud detection and prevention vendors capable of distinguishing between valid and fraudulent advertising traffic that provides no return on ad spend.

The researchers say the most successful ad fraud detection tools will harness machine learning algorithms to compare advertising traffic with previously observed, verifiable baseline data. As a result, the report urges advertisers to adopt fraud and mitigation solutions to maximise return on ad spend through the earlier detection of new fraud tactics.