"Either We Kill Click Fraud or Click Fraud is Going to Kill the Online Ad Business." Anchor Intelligence Launches ClearMark

amp160quotAd Networks out there want to be aggressive about solving this because it39s the right thing to doquot commented Miller quotBut some are nervous about opening up the hood and taking a peek at what39s under there There39s not a strong mindshare yet on whether to tackle the issue on one39s own or to seek a partner We39re still at a point where they don39t really want to talk about itquotTo that end Anchor is today announcing the official debut of its ClearMark service a realtime click quotscoringquot tool quotWe can literally score clicks and impressions in a matter of millisecondsquot Miller said quotThis is a big deal if you39re an ad network integrating those scores and porting them into your billing system Our belief is to report this in real time You can39t be looking back a monthquot he pointed out quotWe see a lot of different data from large companies to long tail ones from the selling side to the buying side and we look at a lot of data around other malicious activity on the Net We feed that all into our algorithms and scoring systemsquot Ad networks aggregate the clicks and impressions from multiple sites and distribute shares of ad revenues to those sites based on their traffic Fraudulent clicks often generated by offshore quotclick farmsquot can artificially boost traffic and cost both ad networks and their advertisers millions of dollars annuallyWhile the ClearMark product is live and is being actively used by partners it hasn39t been announced to the industry until today Miller reports of its initial success quotWithin the first two weeks of running ClearMark partners were able to detect suspiciously high levels of collusion among clickers from over 150000 IP addresses We then identified and helped shut down what was a global fraud ring that had been actively generating artificial clicks on several partner sites prior to their implementation of ClearMark As a result of our investigation over 1000 websites were suspended or rejected from their networks and the fraud ring was stoppedquotJackMyers Media Business Report first addressed the issue of click fraud in March 2006 As online ad buys comprise an everlarger piece of the overall ad pie the issue can no longer be shunted aside for future discussion Google39s efforts to identify and reduce click fraud offer one explanation why the company39s strong first quarter financial results defied Wall St expectations that had been based on negative comScore data While clicks may in fact have declined the value per productive click remained intact or increasedMiller elaborates quotIt39s definitely a slippery slope for anyone to report third party data It gets much more dicey when the data is being used by others to project upcoming measurable events If the reporting is largely accurate the company can shine and become a standard but any discrepancies real or perceived can lead to the reporting company playing nonstop defense for awhile or worse yet claims of hidden agendas In our case it39s embedded in our DNA to be overly thoughtful around any third party reporting we might doquotMiller joined Anchor formerly FraudWall Technologies sixteen months ago after an eightyear tenure at PayPal where he was VP of risk management In the intervening months since joining the company Miller39s primary focus has been on building infrastructureAs to why click fraud has gathered steam Miller has the following observations quotAs an ad network expands its reach and gets into tier 345 level publisher networks there39s a potential degradation of quality there If you39re simultaneously trying to boost revenues and meet expectations there39s an added challenge Anyone who39s growing rapidly will run up against that You have ad and search networks who hoped this issue would go away so they haven39t thoughtfully cultivated or massaged their legacy systems and managed the need for better authentication of publishersquot says MillerAsked if click fraud might be wrestled to the ground anytime soon Miller is tentative quotWe39re a ways away from seeing the tide turning There39s still a lot of financial incentive and value for fraudsters to gain before we can push them off to another activity As we learned at PayPal there39s an arms race element As you get better and wiser and go at the fraudsters they in turn do the same thingquot Miller believes the strategy must be quotto make it more and more difficult for fraudsters to exploit your systemquotThe industry has important economic reasons to attack click fraud quotAdvertisers who39ve been online for several years have evolved and are hitting a point where online is a meaningful part of their ad spend Due to an increase in accountability plus some macroeconomic issues going on there39s an increasing lack of trust around the quality of traffic and the potential for click fraudquot Miller explains quotThere39s a big unknown and uncertainty causing advertisers to take a second look There is potentially a longterm mess Either we kill click fraud or click fraud is going to kill the industry It39s potentially going to be that seriousquotFor further information contact Anchor Intelligence Director of Product Marketing Richard Sim via email at richardsimanchorintelligencecomThis special report is underwritten by Teletrax quotthe leader in digital watermarking for video media tracking measurement and intelligencequot For more information contact Maria DiMasi at mdimasiteletraxtv The editorial content has been prepared by Myers Publishing with no involvement or approval of sponsors

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"Either We Kill Click Fraud or Click Fraud is Going to Kill the Online Ad Business." Anchor Intelligence Launches ClearMark

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