Fraud Detection for the Programmatic Age

Just because digital advertising is faster and more efficient should in no way mean it is not subject to fraud. Fortunately, solutions like AdForm's new Bearskin fraud detection solution aims to protect programmatic advertisers, including those on its demand-side platform and publisher private marketplaces.

The proprietary human verification tool (inspired by the open-source project Honey Pot), Bearskin leverages an anti-fraud algorithm that programmatic traffic against botnets, ad insertions, ad re-directs, OS hacking and other nefarious behavior according to the company.

It also exceeds the industry's viewability standard by detecting if actual humans saw the ads, and if so, for how long. Additionally, it overcomes the challenges of measuring viewability posed by iFrames.

The output for the Bearskin algorithm comes from AdForm's Fraud Intelligence Database, which collects data on every ad run across the AdForm platform. The output is leveraged by AdForm's programmatic solutions and reporting system, and all data is available in the pre-bid.

"We expect that marketers will see better results for both brand and performance campaigns as fraud often comes from long-tail, bad quality sites with low CTR, engagement rates and CPMs. We also anticipate an increase in CPMs, as more premium inventory will be bought. However, advertisers shouldn't necessarily expect an increase in cost-per-click for a very specific reason. Our data shows that when purchasing higher-priced inventory, CPCs remain stable. In this respect, buying high CPM placements benefit both the publisher and advertiser," said Martin Stockfleth Larsen, CMO of AdForm.