The Web’s 25 Safest Sites for Advertisers

CONCERN WITH FRAUD

In determining what media companies you include in your digital media buys, how great a concern are fraudulent impressions and click-through rates?

18.4% We only include sites that guarantee minimal or no fraud

31.2% Our concerns have a major impact on decision-making

28.5% Our concerns have a considerable impact on our decision-making

17.8% We consider them somewhat in our decision-making

4.7% There is too little information to factor fraud into our considerations

1.4% Don’t’ know

My initial reaction is that any decision-maker at the client or agency that believes there is too little information simply isn’t paying attention. My second response is to recall Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, who famously commented that fraud is factored into digital ad pricing. While his comment was universally criticized, the fact is that digital advertising, especially display, is getting cheaper and cheaper, and sites that guarantee minimal fraud are typically those that also receive the highest premiums, so in some ways fraud may be factored into pricing.

MyersBizNet also asked our 360 digital agency and advertiser respondents to rate leading digital-native and print-based digital media sellers on their effectiveness in assuring advertisers a safe and low fraud environment. Let’s take it on faith that the leading TV network sites are the most effective in minimizing fraud, so they’re de facto at the top of the list. In this context, Hulu ranks first among digital sites in protecting advertisers against fraudulent views.

The following list ranks the top 15 sites considered the least affected by fraud as ranked only by media agency executives with exclusive responsibility for digital media buying and planning. This is the group that is the most knowledgeable, yet perceptions vary among different respondent groups. Facebook, for example, is ranked best in class among advertiser (client) executives but with a 60% approval rating. Among digital media buyers/planners, Facebook is ranked tenth, with a 70% approval rating. The companies ranked 16 ^th through 25^th are also listed below, but in alphabetical order (approval ratings are within statistical margin of error).

Survey of Advertising Executives on Perceptions of Digital Media Value 2015

Top 25 Sites For Safe & Low-Fraud Environment as rated by agency digital media planners and buyers

1. Hulu

2. WSJ.com

3. Washington Post Digital (t)

4. LinkedIn (t)

5. NYT Digital

6. USAToday.com

7. Vevo

8. Pandora

9. Spotify

10. Facebook

11. Conde Nast Entertainment

12. Twitter

13. Time Inc. Digital Media

14. Microsoft Advertising

15. AOL

COMPANIES RANKED 16 – 25 (in alphabetical order)

Amazon

Defy Media

Google/YouTube

Hearst Magazines Interactive

iHeartMedia

Meredith Media Sales

Pinterest

She Knows/BlogHer

Undertone

Weather.com

Yahoo! Ranked 26^th. 36 sites/companies included in the selection list. Detailed methodology and results are available to MyersBizNet member companies. 360 respondents to full study.

[Image courtesy of cooldesign/FreeDigitalPhotos.net]