Videology and White Ops Report Shows That Blocking Bots on Video Ads Can Increase Brand Engagement by 22%

Increases in fraudulent "bot" activity estimated to cost advertisers over $7 billion in 2016

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2015 /CNW/ -- Videology, a leading software provider for converged TV and video advertising, and White Ops, the leader in online fraud detection for digital advertising, today released the findings from a new whitepaper entitled "Eradicating Bot Fraud: The Path to Zero-Tolerance." This joint report is designed to help advertisers better understand the issue of ad fraud in video advertising and the viable options available to fight back against this $7 billion problem.

As part of the report, Videology ran an analysis of cost vs. performance on two campaigns with identical inventory, with and without the Videology/White Ops bot blocking technology.  The analysis revealed that the campaign with White Ops bot blocking in place improved brand engagement rates by 22% more than the campaign with bots still present, at a cost increase of only 2%. 

"Our clients are concerned about bot fraud, but there is still confusion over both the impact and extent of the problem and what can realistically be done about it," said Tim Castree, Managing Director of Videology North America.  "One goal of this report is to offer quantifiable rationale that shows how employing the right bot blocking technology can drive substantially better outcomes by reaching humans who can actually drive those outcomes."

The report encourages the industry to begin thinking in terms of the "human CPM," which can dramatically change the true cost of a campaign. Videology's analysis of the two campaigns with and without White Ops fraud prevention revealed that when bots were removed, the quoted CPM of $10 actually rose to $11.12 per one thousand human impressions.

"There are many places for bots to hide, and numerous ways to conceal the true cost of bots to the bottom line," said Michael Tiffany, CEO, White Ops. "We shine a light on those hiding places by using continuous monitoring that preemptively blocks an ad from being served to a bot, thereby preventing the criminals behind it from making money, and protecting the advertiser's investment."

Where are some of bots favorite places to hide?  The report reveals that bots are most prevalent on home PCs (67%), and that computer owners aged 65+ are 69% more likely to be hosting bots than their younger counterparts, likely due to outdated browsers that do not update automatically for bot prevention software.  Since bots do not sleep, they also make up a higher percentage of nighttime traffic, and also tend to proliferate during times of high ad demand, such as the end of the quarter, or during the holidays.

The paper provides several recommendations all groups can heed in order to fight ad fraud, as well as some larger industry-wide recommendations:

• Work with a partner who provides real-time, impression level bot detection, in order to block fraud the moment it happens, without carving out large swaths of "suspicious" inventory
• Think it terms of the "human CPM", and understand that fraud protection comes at a small price relative to return, which ultimately is worth the cost difference
• Develop one industry-wide standard for bot prevention, so that platforms and publishers will be forced to follow high standards and monitoring procedures
• Raise the conversation to the C-level, so that bot fraud is treated for what it is—a crime
• Understand that fraud is an ecosystem problem: advertisers, agencies, and media companies need to work together to defeat the problem.

In May of this year, Videology and White Ops announced their partnership to combat bots and other non-human activity in online video at scale.  Since that time, the two companies have been offering Videology clients worldwide a best-in-class cross-platform, real-time identification and blocking solution that is the first of its kind.

To read the full whitepaper, please visit bit.ly/eradicatebots

About Videology
Videology (www.videologygroup.com) is a leading software provider for converged TV and video advertising. By simplifying big data, we empower marketers and media companies to make smarter advertising decisions to fully harness the value of their audience across screens. Our technology enables our customers to manage, measure and optimize digital video and TV advertising to achieve the best results in the converging media landscape. Videology is headquartered in New York, NY with key offices in Baltimore, Austin, Toronto, London, Paris, Madrid, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and sales teams across North America.  For additional information, contact Michele Skettino, [email protected].

About White Ops 
White Ops is the leading provider of advanced cyber security detection and prevention services, protecting the digital advertising ecosystem and enterprise businesses against bot and malware fraud. White Ops innovative services help organizations improve their bottom lines and ensure the success of their campaigns, business goals, and the security of their systems and data. Unlike traditional approaches that employ statistical analysis, simple blacklisting or static signatures, White Ops effectively combats criminal activity by actually differentiating between robotic and human interaction within online advertising and publishing, enterprise business networks, e-commerce transactions, financial systems and more, allowing organizations to remove and prevent fraudulent traffic and activity. By working with customers to cut off sources of bad Internet traffic, White Ops makes bot and malware fraud unprofitable and unsustainable for the cyber criminals -- an economic strategy that will eventually eradicate this type of fraud. White Ops was recently appointed to the board of W3C. For additional information, contact Lexi Hughes, [email protected].

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SOURCE Videology