eMarketer Turns to Jay Friedman to Discuss Ad Tech Fraud in the U.S.

eMarketer Ad Tech Fraud QuoteWhen leading digital researcher eMarketer needed insights about ad tech fraud in the U.S. for their recent report, they turned to our COO Jay Friedman. The report, titled “Ad Fraud in the US: How More Sophisticated Methods Are Hurting Mobile, Video, and Performance Measurement,” is a three-part series covering the latest trends in ad safety, viewability, and the impact on programmatic advertisers today. Discussion on how to fight ad fraud and curtail its effects led to the excerpt from the report below:

Most digital buyers and sellers consider the use of a fraud detection or ad verification tool table stakes. But while these systems are absolutely critical to protecting against ad fraud, it’s unrealistic to expect them to be capable of catching all fraudulent activity. “Using a third-party fraud company is like taking your Vitamin C every day,” said Jay Friedman, partner and COO of Goodway Group, a programmatic media buying and planning firm. “It’s a smart decision in general, but it’s no guarantee that you’re not going to get sick.”

Some, for example, only filter for invalid traffic and not sophisticated traffic. But perhaps more important is the acknowledgement that such automated processes can and do miss things that a human eye is often capable of catching—if someone takes the time to look.

The report goes on to share how in early 2016 Goodway Group launched a comprehensive review of our supply ecosystem for sophisticated bots that were being programmed to look like users. Analyzing billions of programmatic bid request data points and purchased impressions through a 10-dimensional algorithm led our team to develop our own algorithms that continually detect and remove complex fraudsters from our inventory. Our final result? Goodway has seen fraud rates as low as 1% become a reality. The full “Ad Fraud in the US” report is available to eMarketer subscribers at https://www.emarketer.com/. To hear more from Jay on Goodway’s industry-leading anti-fraud initiatives and find out how you can close the gap, check out our recent webinar here.