Complete Story
02/01/2017
Fake news, ad fraud could drive ad dollars out of digital
Ad quality issues, such as fraud and viewability, have been the plight of the digital advertising industry for some time. But the 2016 US presidential election cycle unearthed another threat to quality: fake news. Marc Goldberg, CEO of publisher verification firm Trust Metrics, spoke with eMarketer’s Lauren Fisher about how he expects advertisers will modify their ad spending and strategy in 2017 as a result of these challenges.
eMarketer: How will advertisers’ investment in digital display advertising change in 2017?
Marc Goldberg: The election cycle added a lot of additional traffic in 2016. Some of that was due to fake news, and some was due to interest in the political conversation. Given that, 2017 will be a bit of an adjustment year. Less inventory will be available, which will impact spending and rates.
The election cycle opened brands’ eyes to safety concerns such as fake news and hate. Add to that brand safety, bots and advertisers wanting to use more protection as they buy, [and that] will lower last year’s surplus of inventory to a more realistic pool of inventory for advertisers.
If advertisers are not willing to increase rates to secure quality inventory, they will miss out on the digital opportunity and, as a result, have to start shifting some budgets around.
