Advertising Technology

Fraud, viewability and trust are big issues for the online ad industry right now. There's a lot of overlap. Fraudulent impressions aren't viewable (because they're “seen” by bots), and this erodes trust in the relationship between buying and selling.

There's another part of the trust mission — the users. You know, the ones advertisers want to see their ads. There seems to be eroding trust on the user-side, as is apparent from the continued growth of ad-blocking software.

This is why so many are working toward improving viewability and trust, while also trying to squash fraud.

Also on the trust topic, publishers are apparently quite wary of Facebook's direct-publishing play. Obviously.

• Publishers Watch Closely as Adoption of Ad Blocking Tech Grows (AdAge) – The big dog in ad-blocking software is, aptly named, AdBlock Plus. It's reported to have seen over 300 million installations (pretty much the same size as Instagram), and it looks like Firefox users are installing it to the tune of 200,000 times each day.

• Publishers arm for war with ad blockers (Digiday) – Publishers aren't being passive in the fight, however. Advertising is how they pay to have their content produced, and some pubs are saying if you're not going to take part in their advertising game then you can't take part in their content either.

• In The Quest For 100% Viewability, Everyone Takes A Different Path (AdExchanger) – Here's a breakdown of the pitfalls faced in terms of the journey toward 100% ad viewability. One thing to ad: the third-party viewability tech providers that aren't standardized can hurt. If the buy- and sell-sides are using different vendors, it can lead to discrepancies and then nobody wins in the this-vs.-that which follows.

• Ask an Expert: Pixalate CEO ‘Trust is a Critical Component of Success' in Advertising (OpenX) – There's a need for industry standards for inventory quality, and Pixalate is taking on that issue. Founder and CEO Jalal Nasir weighs in on what it's like leading that charge.

• Facebook admits publishers are concerned its direct-to-Facebook publishing plan will lead to a ‘lack of control' (Business Insider) – There are a few things at play here. First is a loss of data control. Second, there's a loss of content control. Finally, there's having to share revenue with another platform. Publishers are wary.

An industry that's evolving comes with it many other evolutions as well — how we think and talk about things, how solve new problems, how we solve old problems, and how sometimes it's preferred to just stick to what you do best. Here's a roundup of headlines from this week that covers changing terminology and strategies and a company changing its strategy and focus. There's also a bit on what we can learn from windows (the real ones, not the OS).

• The New Premium: How Programmatic Changes The Way Advertisers Value Inventory (AdExchanger) – As any industry grows and evolves, so does its terminology. In terms of the online advertising industry, one of those evolving terms is “premium inventory.” Previously tied to channel and content type, the term is more often being used in reference to the audience sitting in front of those impressions.

• How Rampant is Online Ad Fraud? (Wall Street Journal) – comScore released data this week that indicates a majority (but not all) of the online fraud is tied to the bottom 20 percent of ad campaigns. This would seem to support the theory of fraud being at least somewhat avoidable if you work with the right partners.

• Ad blocking software is on the rise, and that has major implications for digital media (Business Insider) – Users don't want to pay for all the content they consume online, and a growing percentage of them are taking steps to avoid the advertising that supports the content they consume at no cost. This has those on the buy and sell sides trying to figure it all out.

• SAY Media Unloads Its Websites to Focus on Tech (AdWeek) – Being a publisher isn't easy. Being a tech company isn't easy. Being both is proving to be pretty impossible. Focus on what you want to do, and work with trusted partners for the rest.

• What I Learned About Programmatic From Buying Windows (MediaPost) – We'll close off with a fun one. Here's a tale of how an off-the-clock experience taught an ad-tech executive a thing or two about what he does for a living.

Keeping it simple, it would seem that weeding out fraud is as easy as working with those you trust. Speaking of fraud, it's apparently staring publishers right in the face when it comes to fishy-looking desktop traffic. When it comes to maximizing end-of-article placements, publishers have options. Maybe it's time to put the mobile app vs. mobile web debate to bed, and taking a difference-angle look at cookies.

• Fixing online advertising: How to beat bots, scammers … and the invisibility problem (VentureBeat) – In a guest column in Venture Beat, Martini Media CEO Erik Pavelka tackled the issues of ad fraud and viewability. For viewability, we might be a way off. In terms of fraud, the points outlined by Pavelka, while somewhat oversimplified, are on target in that in order for buyers to reach a quality audience, they must work with trusted sellers.

• If Desktop Traffic Seems Suspicious, It Probably Is (eMarketer) – Fraudsters are almost always going to take the path of least resistance. Because of the ease of using infected (and often always connected) desktop PCs, those machines have been shown to create the highest amounts of fraud traffic. It is in knowing this, however, it makes spotting that fraud traffic easy.

• What The Shakeup Of Content Engines & Rise of Programmatic Mean For Publishers (MediaPost) – Here's a look at those end-of-article placements, which are usually content recommendations, and what publishers can do to maximize the revenue they create.

• It's time to stop debating mobile app vs. mobile web (Digiday) – The IAB last week said the mobile web was far from dead. This week, Daniel Meehan, CEO of PadSquad, argues that it's pointless anymore to talk mobile web vs. app, and that “mobile” as we now think of it should just become part of the norm.

• In defense of the cookie (AdExchanger) – Lou Montulli, co-founder and chief scientist at Zetta.net, offers an interesting look back at the history of the cookie, and explains why he still thinks the cookie was the way to go in the early days of online banner ads.