Ad fraud prevention specialist TrafficGuard has teamed up with Juniper Research to profile the state of ad fraud in North America. As the largest digital advertising market in the world, North America is no stranger to digital ad fraud.
Digital Advertising in North America
North America’s average ad spend per internet user is 455% above the global average. However, with a booming digital advertising industry also comes advertising fraud. The recent profile of ad fraud in North America by TrafficGuard and Juniper Research estimates that within the next five years, advertisers will be losing $100 million a day due to ad fraud. That represents an increase of 125% since 2018 when daily losses were reported at $44 million per day. Additionally, more than 1 in 5 ad transactions will be derived from fraud by 2023.
In the global context, North America’s forecast cost of ad fraud for 2019 at $18.7 billion represents 36% of the global loss despite being home to just 9% of the world’s internet users.
“Speaking to advertisers in North America we know that ad fraud is a major pain point, not just in draining ad spend but in slowing business growth. Premium traffic sources have a finite reach but using TrafficGuard, advertisers can access alternate traffic sources confident in the knowledge that they are protected from fraud,” said Luke Taylor, COO and founder of TrafficGuard. “We’re thrilled to be expanding our reach to North America by establishing a new office in New York City and look forward to helping businesses in the region grow.”
Awareness of ad fraud in the North American market is growing. The report highlights growth in the proportion of ad spend recovered from fraud citing an increase in ad fraud awareness, along with increasing sophistication of fraud prevention as contributing factors. Where only 11% of potential loss to ad spend has been estimated to be recovered in 2019, this figure is expected to increase to almost 20% by 2023.