Managing Advertising Investments for a Human Audience Recent data has shown us that bot traffic continues to rise across the internet, particularly in the areas of registration, voting, and commenting. These areas are those wherein human presence is not only crucial to the integrity of a given website, but directly related to publishers’ advertising investments. When non-human traffic takes the place of real consumers, publishers are victimized. As a result, media buyers are moving to high-quality, native ad placements on a cost per engagement basis. We created this infographic to take a deeper look into this growing problem:

1. THE BOT STOPS HEREMANAGING ADVERTISING INVESTMENTS FOR A HUMAN AUDIENCE
IN JULY 2012, a digital distribution company's claim that 80% of clicks on its
ads on Facebook were from bots sparked new dialogue about the rise of bot traffic.
While the experience may not be common, the concern for efficient media
spending is one shared by all marketers and ad agencies.
While the majority of bots come from the United States in
terms of absolute numbers, the countries with the highest
share of non-consumer traffic include:
While non-consumer traffic has been on the rise for years, Solve
Media found it grew from 5.7% to 26% across registration, voting,
commenting, and sharing since the beginning of 2011.
Approximately 38% of this traffic was from bots,
equating to 10% of total traffic.
POTENTIAL ADVERTISING
INVESTMENT WASTE DUE TO BOTS
Because certain publishers attract more abberant traffic
than others, estimates vary regarding the share of traffic
comprised of bots. Regardless, potential media spend
wasted on bot traffic is significant.
SEEK OUT COST-PER-ENGAGEMENT (CPE) MEDIA
OPPORTUNITIES THAT DEMAND HUMAN COGNITION.
Most media buys are made in the hopes that consumers will pay attention
and that those consumers are human. Why take chances on either?
EMBRACE PUBLISHERS THAT PROACTIVELY
TAKE A STANCE AGAINST BOT TRAFFIC.
Seek out publishers that integrate anti-bot security solutions
and reputation management, which together ensure advertising
reaches only human audiences.
DEMAND THIRD-PARTY ATTITUDINAL
RESEARCH THAT CONFIRMS EFFECTIVENESS.
Ensure the ad buy actually works by using measurements provided
by companies such as comScore, Dynamic Logic, and Vizu.
REQUIRE SITE TRANSPARENCY
ON ALL NETWORK BUYS.
Make partners prove the quality of their traffic. Unviewable,
auto-play inventory is a breeding grounds for bots.
IMPLEMENT ATTRIBUTION TRACKING
TECHNOLOGY ON ALL VIDEO BUYS.
This kind of technology tells media buyers where traffic is coming
from and what specifically is creating value from the buy.
comScore
Bot Traffic
Estimate
Potential
Waste
Solve Media Incapsula
BOT TRAFFIC
PUBLISHERS ARE BEING VICTIMIZED
This year, display advertising will reach an unprecedented
$15.3 billion out of the total online advertising market
valued at $39.5 billion, according to eMarketer.
MEDIA SPEND
5 STEPS TO PROTECTING YOUR ADVERTISING INVESTMENT AGAINST BOTS
TAIWAN
54%
PHILIPPINES
43%
UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES
33%
SINGAPORE
56%
2011
5.7%
4%
(The low end of
comScore’s 4-11% estimate)
Unless otherwise indicated, data is derived from analysis of Solve Media’s more than 100-million monthly transactions.
Additional Sources: comScore | eMarketer | Incapsula| The New York Times
$612
MILLION
1
2
3
4
5
$1.5
BILLION
$4.7
BILLION
10%
31%
PRESENT
26%
$15.3
BILLION
SAUDI ARABIA
29%
UNITED STATES
16%