Stephan Loerke of WFA: Advertisers are the sole victim of ad fraud

According to a new report from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), ad fraud is likely to exceed US$50 billion globally by 2025. The WFA said that ad fraud should be considered a form of organized crime and that the activity is second only to the drug trade as a source of income. The report also concludes that “virtually any programmatic buy can be exposed to ad fraud.” “Advertisers are the sole victim of ad fraud and the WFA wants to equip them with the tools to minimize their exposure” stated Stephan Loerke, WFA’s CEO. “There is much more that advertisers can do to improve the situation in terms of setting new standards, contractual changes and increased transparency, but ultimately behavior change is required across the industry.” The US$50 billion figure is a first scenario estimated by the report, but it also notices that ad fraud revenues can amount US$150 billion for 2025. The report advises advertisers to be cautious in relation to increasing their digital media investment until the industry can prove that it has the capability to effectively deal with ad fraud. Among the WFA recommendations to help brands to reduce their exposure to ad fraud is the development of in-house expertise to develop standards to protect them from ad fraud.