Big brands are joining a new blockchain test pilot to eradicate the fudge, fraud and fakery in the online ads industry. McDonald’s, Nestlé and Virgin Media are the first to sign up.
The pilot, conducted by Jicwebs, a media industry committee to measure advertising activity on the web, will run until the end of the year, according to a report by Campaign.
Advertisers spend millions on online campaigns without a way to verify their return on investment or to confirm that the reported statistics, detailing demographics, target audiences and reach, is in fact accurate.
Cybersecurity company Cheq reports that advertisers will lose more than $23 billion globally to ad fraud in 2019.
According to Cheq, up to 30% of ads are affected by fraud, affecting 21 trillion online ads each year.
“However, the study argues that not all instances cost the same, and in many cases, fraud disproportionately affects low-level campaigns with cheaper CPM (cost per thousand). The study argues that a 7.5% composite rate of total ad spend lost to ad fraud reflects a mix of both lower-end and higher-end ad campaigns, totaling losses of $23.7 billion in 2019. Left unchecked the level of fraud is expected to reach $26 billion by 2020, $29 billion by 2021 and $32 billion by 2022.”
Jicwebs oversees the independent development of standards for digital ad trading, and is using blockchain to increase transparency and trust in how digital advertising is bought and sold.
Blockchain, the technology underpinning Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, allows consumers and companies to record transactions on a distributed database that cannot be tampered with, making the data more secure, transparent and trusted.
Says Kat Howcroft, senior media and budget manager at McDonald’s,
“This technology offers us the opportunity to see a truly transparent picture of our investment across the digital supply chain. We are also eager to understand the potential impact that this may have on our ROI and efficiency.”
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