Publishers are using third party data to supplement their own information. Location data compiler Factual and Digiday found that 85% of publishers buy third party data, primarily to extend the scale of their own information. They also found that geotargeteing is now mainstream: 76% of publishers usually or always do it.
It’s not your imagination: the online audience aggregators (Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.) really are coming under unprecedented pressure. It’s not just lagging indicators like the New York Times finally noticing there’s a problem, Verto Analytics, which gathers behavior from measurement apps on consumer devices, found that Facebook time fell 32.7 hours per month in 2016 to 18.5 hours in 2017. Other social media services showed growth. Let’s face it: attention spans are short and people are not as obsessed with Facebook as they used to be.
One of the problems with taking humans out of the media buying process is that ad fraud and brand safety problems can go undetected. Programmatic ad platform RhythmOne reports it blocked just over one-third of all potential inventory due to fraud or performance concerns last June – September. Rates are similar with previous periods but better options are emerging: fraud is lower on mobile app inventory than desktops; private marketplaces offer higher quality options; and ads.txt is helping to prevent unauthorized selling by fraudsters.
It’s tough to get brand safety right, but the industry keeps trying. IPG Mediabrands announced a new set of tools to find and block inappropriate ad placements, while IAS expanded its suitability measurements to include standards from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Meanwhile, DoubleVerify admitted a mistake made brand safety on X/Twitter look worse than it really was in October 2023 and March 2024.