Digital Ad Industry Loses $8.2B Yearly in Fraud, Infringed Content, Malvertising, Report Says
Ad fraud, infringed content and malvertising are costing the U.S. digital advertising industry about $8.2 billion annually, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Ernst & Young said in report released Tuesday. In a joint news release on the report, the groups…
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said ad fraud accounts for about $4.6 billion of the waste. "Seventy-two percent of the loss associated with the Web's fraudulent traffic happens on desktops and 28 percent on mobile," the release said. Infringed content -- stolen video programming, music and other illegally distributed editorial content -- accounts for about $2.4 billion in costs. "The findings show that unless the industry takes significant steps, there is a likelihood that the number of people consuming stolen content on digital platforms will increase," they said. Malware-related activities account for about $1.1 billion with $781 million of the losses generated by ad blocking and $204 million from costs related to investigating, remediating and documenting incidents of malicious advertising. The report provides guidance to eliminate corruption by fixing business processes, among other flaws, and encouraging the industry to collaborate on a "trustworthy supply chain," the release said.