TrafficGuard Finds Up to 34% of Clicks on Some ChatGPT Ads Were Invalid
· 3h ago · Originally reported by PPC Land
TrafficGuard detected up to 34% invalid clicks on certain ChatGPT advertising campaigns. Four hosting and proxy networks reached 25 of the 47 advertisers analysed and accounted for 47% of all flagged clicks. The vendor-sourced figures do not clarify whether advertisers were actually billed for the fraudulent traffic.
Why it matters
OpenAI is building a major new advertising business around ChatGPT, so early signs of invalid traffic could undermine advertiser trust on the platform before it even scales.
Explain it like I’m new here
It's like paying for visitors to your shop but finding out a third of them were mannequins on conveyor belts — you paid for foot traffic that was never real.
Terms in this story
Advertiser
An advertiser is the company, organisation or person that pays to place ads in order to sell products, build a brand, recruit, or spread a message.
Invalid click
An invalid click is an ad click that is not the result of genuine user interest, such as bot clicks, accidental double-clicks, clicks by publishers on their own ads, or manipulated clicks.
Campaign
A campaign is an organised set of ads with a shared goal, budget, audience and time period, run across one or more channels and measured against defined KPIs.
Go deeper
Related stories
TrafficGuard Identifies Up to 34% Invalid Traffic in ChatGPT Paid Advertising
TrafficGuard has reported that as much as 34% of traffic from paid ads on ChatGPT may be invalid. This suggests a significant portion of ad spend could be wasted on non-genuine interactions or fraudulent activity.
Wikimedia blames OpenAI bots for partial site outage amid rising automated traffic
Wikimedia reported a partial outage that it attributes in part to traffic from OpenAI agents. The organization says bots now account for 65% of its most resource-heavy requests, burdening infrastructure maintained largely by volunteers…
OpenX Becomes First Platform to Integrate HUMAN Security's Ad Verification Suite
OpenX has become the first ad exchange platform to adopt HUMAN Security's full ad verification suite, bringing reason codes, supply-path analysis, and brand safety agents to exchanges, SSPs, and DSPs. Pricing details and accuracy…
Fake ChatGPT Ads Used to Spread Malware in AI Search Results
Malicious actors are placing fake ads for ChatGPT in search results, tricking users into downloading malware instead of legitimate AI tools. These deceptive ads exploit the popularity of AI searches to distribute harmful software.
Truth Social Platform Accused of Hosting Scam Ads Targeting Australians
Truth Social, the social media platform associated with Donald Trump, has reportedly been running scam advertisements aimed at Australian users. These ads are alleged to mislead or defraud viewers, raising concerns about the platform's ad…
Travel Sites See High Rates of Stolen Card Testing and Scraping, HUMAN Reports
A new report from HUMAN reveals that leading travel websites are frequently targeted by fraudsters, with 17.6% of their traffic involving stolen credit card testing. Additionally, scraping activity accounted for nearly half of listing…