Dive Brief:

• Research from the Association of National Advertisers found 11% of digital display ads involve fakery, and the figure rises to almost 25% for video ads.
• Two companies are offering software and hardware tools to combat digital ad fraud, particularly targeting the mobile web.
• Pixalate offers a server-based hardware appliance that protects across platforms and AdTheorent’s software targets mobile traffic

Dive Insight:

Digital display advertising has an issue with fraud, with a survey from the Association of National Advertisers finding the problem could cost advertisers as much as $6 billion in 2015. Fraud comes in the form of suspicious proxy servers, denial-of-service attacks, malware, phishing, compromised IPs and URLs and bots. To combat the problem two companies are offering different solutions. Pixalate has a hardware-based approach with a server appliance that combats fraud across platforms. AdTheorent has a software solution that specifically targets mobile ad traffic.

Fraudulent ad actions create fake impressions increasing advertiser payments.