FouAnalytics Claims Invalid Traffic Estimates Understate Fraud on CPM Ads
· 2h ago · Originally reported by PPC Land
FouAnalytics suggests that industry estimates of $63 billion in invalid traffic may significantly undercount fraud on CPM-based ads. Their data shows a much higher rate of invalid impressions compared to what is typically reported using click-based metrics.
Why it matters
This matters because if fraud on CPM ads is being underestimated, advertisers may be losing more money to invalid traffic than they realize, affecting campaign effectiveness and ROI.
Explain it like I’m new here
It's like thinking only a few apples in your basket are rotten because you checked the ones on top, but most of the bad ones are hidden underneath.
Terms in this story
Invalid traffic (IVT)
Invalid traffic (IVT) is any impression, click or visit not coming from a real person with a genuine chance to see the ad, whether caused by bots, fraud or error.
CPM (cost per mille)
CPM (cost per mille) is the price an advertiser pays for one thousand ad impressions; "mille" is Latin for thousand.
Impression
An impression is one instance of an ad being served and counted as displayed to a user; it is the basic unit that most online advertising is bought and sold by.
IVT rate
IVT rate is the share of measured impressions, clicks or visits identified as invalid traffic, usually shown as a percentage and often split into GIVT and SIVT.
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