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In a comprehensive new series titled the 2016 Guide to Media Transparency, the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) talks to leaders from all sides of the industry to better understand the issues and how to build more accountability and transparency between parties for the long-term success of digital media. Throughout the next several months, AAM will share tips with ACA readers on solving problems with viewability, adblocking and general transparency. In Joan Brehl’s last column, she shared three steps advertisers can take to clear up the confusion in programmatic buying. This time, she has some tips for tackling digital ad fraud.

Digital ad fraud is a broad term that encompasses many different things—piracy, malware, invalid traffic.

Steve Guenther, vice president of digital services at AAM, notes that the industry has made good progress within the past few years to address the digital ad fraud issue, which still accounts for losses of $8.2 billion annually in the U.S.

“We have a lot of the pieces to the puzzle in place, but now they need to be implemented by vendors in the digital advertising supply chain to move forward,” Guenther said. “Ad tech vendors need to adopt and implement IVT guidelines and use the TAG tools to start squeezing out the bad actors in the digital advertising supply chain.”

With billions of dollars and brand reputation at stake, everyone in the media ecosystem needs to take responsibility and contribute to digital ad fraud solutions. True partnership between publishers, agencies, vendors and marketers is the only way to address the issue.

“The more conversations that are had in public, the more it encourages people to shine a light on places in the ecosystem that are unknown,” said Ted Boyd, CEO of Brandworks Advertising. “I really like to think that we’re going to have an ecosystem where, unless you’re certified or are known to be of character, you’re not going to be able to participate or, at a minimum, advertisers and their agencies will be able to make an informed choice. The more that we expand that circle of trust, the less room there is for the untrustworthy.”

Fraud is such an all-encompassing problem all parties will have to work together to root out the bad characters. Here are some tips advertisers like you can take to do your part.

Digital Ad Fraud Tips for Advertisers

• Work with your agency to establish clear goals and objectives for each campaign, articulate them in the media plan, and be sure to analyze performance to established KPIs.
• Insist that your partners and vendors only use third-party technology that has been independently audited to industry guidelines and best practices that address issues such as transparent measurement, brand safety and supply chain efficiency.
• Inform agencies and vendors upfront that you will not pay for non-human traffic and agree on which tools to use to measure viewability and remove fraudulent traffic.
• Ask to receive a post-campaign reconciliation for every engagement to ensure you understand where your ads ran (on what sites, next to brand-friendly content).

“Advertisers first have to embrace media transparency,” said Khoi Truong, director of media and data optimization at L’Oréal Canada. “We need to be ready to accept what we’re going to find out. We used to buy on a CPM basis and think that CPM was pure media. And then, when we opened the media transparency door, we realized that wasn’t the case.

“I believe that ad tech must find a way to explain how digital media is purchased to marketers in a language that marketers can digest and relate. For agencies, they must be open to discussions on media transparency, how the team operates and what they are doing on the buy. And marketers need to accept that media transparency comes with a cost. It can be a financial cost but it can also cost time and resources.”

You can also help educate your partners in the digital ecosystem about fraud, it’s impact on the industry and how they can be part of the solution. Ask them if they employ the following tips and if not, encourage them to do so.

Digital Ad Fraud Tips for Ad Agencies

• Ensure complete, detailed insertion orders that include placement details, concise billing language, delivery requirements and targeting purchased.
• Require technology vendors to be certified or accredited to industry standards.
• Avoid websites and networks that rely on buying traffic from third-party sources. Include language in RFPs and insertion orders that requires publishers to disclose sourced traffic.
• Ask publishers whether they are audited or work with certified companies.
  “We’re focused on being accountable in the digital supply chain and ensuring brand safety,” said Joe Barone, managing partner of digital ad operations for GroupM. “We work with premium publishers, know who we’re buying from, and enforce terms and conditions to make sure we have clean streets for our clients to walk down.

“With fraud, it’s always going to be a game of whack-a-mole. But if we can make it harder for the bad guys to operate and reduce their margins, we’ll get a lead on them and get a hold of the problem.”

Digital Ad Fraud Tips for Ad Tech Vendors

• Learn about the options for ad tech verification and then get certified to industry guidelines, which now includes the MRC’s Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Guidelines.
• Register with the Trustworthy Accountability Group to show your commitment as a quality company in the digital advertising supply chain.
• Learn about training options from TAG and AAM, including new compliance officer training.
• Provide transparent reporting at the site level for your media partners.

“(Accreditation) definitely helps the business. We needed to be able to talk about why mobile measurement is different and what the value is for the client,” said Preethy Vaidyanathan, senior vice president of product management for Medialets. “If you look at the checkboxes on desktop, you need a dedicated ad server to track dedicated desktop spend, you need to be accredited by a neutral third party and you need to track in-depth ROI.”

Digital Ad Fraud Tips for Publishers

• Understand the implications of invalid traffic on your site and work with a third party to audit those metrics.
• Work with vendors that are certified to industry guidelines.
• Be more transparent about sourced traffic, monitor the traffic and eliminate sources with high bot percentages.
• Work with your buyers to understand what they want out of their campaign and how you can help provide it.

“So much machine-to-machine is happening that we have to train our staff to know what machines are connected to what areas,” explained Cynthia Young, head of audience for The Globe and Mail. “This understanding of the networks and how they function is new and extremely important for our teams to know and understand. We’ve moved from a conversation about what they want to buy from us to a conversation around what they expect to get from us.”

You can find more tips for avoiding digital ad fraud in our white paper that also examines the different types of fraud on their impact on the industry.

Joan Brehl is vice president and general manager for AAM’s Canadian services. As such, she develops new strategic business opportunities in print, digital, mobile and other media channels to promote AAM Canada and its clients.