Australian media agencies have been warned about the increasing number of tricks and traps that are being used by unaudited online publishers to artificially inflate their ad impressions and traffic numbers, leading to wasted ad spend.
As a part of the online media industry’s Web Audit Initiative and education program, the Audit Bureaux of Australia (ABA) has been visiting key media agencies in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to reveal to media buyers the increasing number of risks to their online advertising budget. The ABA has previously warned media buyers of these risks through a recent Digital Watchdog report entitled Protect Your Online Ad Spend From These Traps.
Media buyers were disturbed to learn about the number of different risks to be aware of and how often they occur across publishers of all sizes, large and small. Media buyers were also concerned to hear about the number of large publishers in breach of ABA measurement rules due to accidental or sometimes intentional manipulation of the measurement system which inflates the online traffic numbers used for media evaluation and planning.
A key point of concern was the increasing number of local publishers using third party pop-under methods that enable a website to artificially inflate their traffic numbers and ad inventory by piggybacking on a separate host website’s traffic. By automatically serving their website in another browser window when a user visits a separate website, they are able to leech off the host’s traffic automatically serving ads to them which may never be seen or may not be welcomed by the user.
All of the risks highlighted by the ABA impact the media evaluation process, impeding media buyers’ ability to fairly assess where to place their ad investment and have confidence in the figures being used. These traps also put trustworthy publishers at an unfair disadvantage because they will be competing with inflated or even fabricated figures. In order to protect their ad investment, media buyers should seek independent ABA verification if these issues are present in the websites they choose to deal with.
Paul Elliott, Head of Digital for the media agency OMD said: “OMD wholeheartedly support the efforts of the ABA and their education drive. It’s an imperative for all of the online team at OMD to understand the potential issues with the numbers we use for our planning and buying. The ABA provide clarity on the common mistakes in online measurement. They have also highlighted the methods that could be employed by unscrupulous publishers in order to manipulate their impressions. This is an issue that goes beyond traffic measurement, and the ABA have identified a number of examples where potentially bought impressions are not being seen. This is still the biggest issue we face in our industry so it’s as important as ever to have an independent body like the ABA taking a lead in this area of industry education.”
Background:
Since the launch of the online media industry’s Web Audit Initiative and Digital Watchdog Committee in late 2009, the Audit Bureaux of Australia (ABA) has been working with the industry to investigate and resolve a range of measurement issues affecting the market. The aim of the web audit initiative has been to increase media buyers’ confidence in the numbers being used and also ensure their investment is protected from traps that may lead to wasted ad spend.
For more information about our web audit service, please contact Alexx Cass at alexx.cass@auditbureau.org.au or call 02 8912 6009.
