“Malvertising” is advertising that loads malware onto the computers of people who click it. Not good. But ad fraud solution provider Escalated.io is now offering a product that identifies malware and stops it from being served. Delightfully, the system works “post auction”, which means malvertisers still pay for the ads. Well played.
The pandemic may have made it harder for new companies to raise funds, but investors do seem willing to double down on companies that have already reached significant size and industry position. Case in point: cloud contact vendor Talkdesk has just raised a $143 million Series C, raising its total to $268 million and pegging its value at more than $3 billion.
Those retailers downplaying security might want to think again based on this Dentsu Aegis Network study, which found that 77% of global consumers would stop doing business with a brand that lost their data or used it irresponsibly and 32% opted out of personalized advertising in the past year. There’s a very interesting set of four scenarios for how personal data use might evolve in the near future – definitely worth a look.
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.