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Integral Ad Science’s SEA Country Manager Megan Reichelt was honoured to speak on stage at this year’s GroupM Focal on the topic of AI and actionable data.

We are delighted to share some of the key insights she discussed on the day.

What innovative data/tech -powered strategies do brands currently utilize? And how does it impact their business?

Megan: Many local and global brands in Thailand are using ad verification to improve the quality of the inventory they are buying, which helps drive greater efficiency and effectiveness across their digital media buys. Thailand marketers are using ad verification tools to ensure that their ads are viewable, by a real person, as well as served in a brand safe and suitable environment. This means advertisers can understand exactly where their media budget is going, and use  insights and optimisation tools to reduce any wasted media budget and redirect their investments towards the inventory that will deliver the greatest business results. This includes a lift in brand awareness, consideration and even conversions. Ultimately, using ad verification tools helps brands maximise their media budgets by optimising towards greater quality inventory, delivering greater return on ad spend.

How can brands reach new potential target audiences beyond their existing customer base?

Megan: With the impending deprecation of cookies, marketers are seeking alternative ways to expand their reach, and target new audiences. One of the key strategies many marketers have begun testing is contextual targeting. In the past, contextual targeting was quite simplistic, you would target pages or publishers based on the category they fell into. For example a travel brand might target the travel section of a major news publisher. With recent technology advancements, and the introduction of AI, we have come a long way since then. 

Marketers can now use advanced contextual technology to reach audiences based on the specific content they are viewing, at the page level. It’s now possible to target users based on the context of the content they are viewing, as well as the sentiment and emotion of the page. Sentiment & emotion analysis now enables marketers to understand if a page is positive, or negative, or does it evoke feelings of happiness, or sadness, excitement or fear. This is really powerful as you can use all of these insights for targeting purposes, meaning you can reach new users, in the right mindset, before they make a purchase. If I refer back to the travel brand, you can target users who are viewing relevant travel content, no matter where they are on the web, and now you can also tailor this further by layering on emotions. Perhaps for an upcoming valentines day campaign, a hotel chain wants to target users who are viewing pages that evoke feelings of love. This is now possible.

Advanced contextual targeting technology can help increase scale, and have significant performance benefits when compared to traditional audience targeting solutions. IAS & Mindshare worked together with a major consumer electronics brand to activate  contextual targeting using sentiment & emotion analysis, and when comparing this to an alternative audience targeting solution, they achieved a 300% higher click through rate, and a 65% decrease in their cost per click.

Are there any other angles apart from Customer-related perspective that brand can leverage data and technology with?

Megan: One hot topic right now, is how brands can prioritise Sustainability and Responsible media buying. According to an IAS study, 94% of consumers believe that brands should play a role in advocating for environmental causes, and 76% of consumers are more likely to have a favorable view of brands that advocate for environmental causes. This means that when brands adopt sustainable practices, this has a positive impact on their brand reputation, customer loyalty, and operational efficiency. Data can be used to measure and analyse your marketing activities environmental impact, helping you to identify areas for improvement. 

IAS works with Scope3 and GoodLoop and uses data to measure the carbon footprint of a digital campaign. Marketers can then take these insights to guide resource optimisation, waste reduction, and energy efficiency strategies.

What trends about data and technologies do you see coming and impacting the business? And what would be the negative impact if the brand doesn’t adapt accordingly?

Megan: Optimising towards basic media quality metrics such as viewability is the foundation of measurement, and something many marketers have been doing for a number of years now. Today we are starting to see marketers look beyond viewability, as they are seeking new ways to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. One of these new methods is the use of attention metrics.

Attention has become one of the most talked about topics in the industry globally. Attention measurement allows advertisers to understand and evaluate how effectively their ads are engaging and resonating with their audience. 

In a number of studies we have conducted at IAS, we have identified that optimising towards Attention signals such as whether the ad is actually seen, and how long it is seen, the environment the ad is served in, as well as user interaction, is directly linked to improved business results across the entire funnel.  This includes boosting awareness, consideration and purchase intent, as well as driving a significant lift in conversions for performance campaigns too. In fact, in a recent study we conducted across multiple advertisers and markets, we  identified that impressions with high attention scores saw a conversion rate of up to 33x higher than impressions with low attention scores.

My advice to the marketers in the room is to ensure that when selecting an attention measurement solution, ensure you are looking for one that is directly linked to proven business results. Afterall, the ultimate goal is to achieve your media KPIs and deliver business results, across the funnel.

For more information on this topic or how IAS can help you with your digital ad campaign, you can reach out to Megan via mreichelt@integralads.com

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Defining MFA and Ad Clutter sites

MFA, an acronym for Made-for-Advertising, epitomizes a category of websites built on catchy headlines, clickbait, and controversial content to drive traffic and ad revenue. Often sacrificing content quality, these sites inundate users with intrusive ads and pop-ups in a relentless pursuit of revenue. 

MFA sites aren’t sources of fraudulent inventory, per se. In fact, they typically perform well against traditional ad metrics, like viewability and click-through-rate, so these sites can check a lot of boxes for advertisers. However, once a brand’s campaign gets stuck in the world of MFA, the main issue becomes clear — MFA websites simply do not drive meaningful results and lead to wasted ad spend.

Distinguishing between MFA and Ad Clutter sites

While both MFA and Ad Clutter sites may exhibit similar characteristics, understanding the difference between the two is essential for advertisers who want to mitigate risk and maximize campaign performance. Ad Clutter sites share similarities with MFA sites in terms of intrusive advertising practices — but the key distinction lies in their monetization strategy. 

Unlike MFA sites, which engage in ad arbitrage by buying traffic and excessively monetizing it, Ad Clutter sites do not purchase traffic but may still inundate users with excessive advertisements. While these sites may compromise user experience and brand perception, they do not engage in the same level of deceptive practices as MFA sites.

Why it matters

Distinguishing between MFA and Ad Clutter sites allows advertisers to tailor their strategies accordingly, mitigating risks and optimizing campaign performance. By leveraging IAS’s MFA measurement and optimization products, advertisers can identify and block MFA sites at scale, safeguarding their brands and maximizing return on ad spend.

Though there are key differences, it’s important to note that both MFA and Ad Clutter sites are problematic for advertisers.

Navigating the pitfalls: Three main challenges of MFA sites

While MFA and Ad Clutter sites present a host of issues for advertisers, there are three reasons why they stand out as particularly detrimental to campaign success and brand integrity:

1. MFA sites often prioritize quantity over quality when it comes to content. To attract clicks and maximize ad revenue, these websites churn out sensationalized headlines, clickbait articles, and controversial content. Consequently, users are bombarded with shallow or misleading information, eroding trust and credibility in the digital space.
2. User experience takes a backseat on MFA sites, where intrusive ads, pop-ups, and autoplay videos dominate the landscape. These disruptive elements not only detract from the browsing experience but also hinder engagement and interaction with advertised content. As a result, advertisers risk associating their brands with negative user experiences, ultimately impacting brand perception and loyalty.
3. Advertising on MFA sites exacerbates environmental concerns. MFA sites often engage in more instant auctions for ad inventory than websites with typical ad loads, resulting in higher carbon emissions. In fact, there is a 73% decrease in carbon emissions when comparing quality sites to MFA sites. This discrepancy in carbon footprint undermines advertisers’ efforts toward carbon reduction goals, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable advertising practices.

The importance of a scalpel approach to MFA

Taking a scalpel approach to MFA is a key way to address these three major challenges outlined above. IAS’s MFA measurement and optimization product uses a scalpel approach as opposed to an all-or-nothing approach to effectively identify MFA at the subdomain level. Competitive offerings can only flag at the top-level domain, which doesn’t allow for the nuance of MFA subdomains that can be mistakenly generated off of a quality publisher’s primary domain.

By not flagging a primary, or top-level, domain as MFA, IAS is able to protect advertisers from low quality placements while still supporting quality publishers. Plus, IAS’s MFA product has been trained against Sincera’s deep library of metadata along with Jounce Media’s widely adopted list of MFA domains.

A data-driven look at ad performance on MFA sites

Global view of ad impressions on MFA

In an observational study conducted by IAS, we found the harsh truth behind MFA and Ad Clutter sites. First, we looked at how the rate of ads that end up on MFA sites varies globally.

The good news is that European sites for the most part fell below the global average of ad impressions on MFA sites, which is 3.84%. Looking at APAC, Japan hit the lowest global rate at 0.33%. But the bad news is that MFA ad impressions in the Americas often lay above the global average, climbing as high as 5.21% in the U.S. and even reaching 10.61% in Mexico.

Vertical view of ad impressions on MFA

Ad impressions on MFA sites also varied quite a bit by vertical — but all verticals came in above the 3.84% global average in this study.

We observed that the lowest rate, 3.85%, belonged to advertisers in the automotive vertical, while CPG followed closely at 4.14%. Retail rounded out the top three at 4.71% — still almost an entire percentage point above the global average.

The government/non-profit/education vertical is where things get dicey. These verticals, packaged together in this study, soared to reach an unprecedented MFA rate of 7.21%. The travel vertical also experienced a surprisingly high MFA rate of 6.84%.

Conversions and cost efficiency tell an even bigger story

After dissecting global MFA ad impression rates by vertical, we wanted to understand how conversions really differ on MFA and Ad Clutter sites versus quality sites.

Conversion rates on quality sites were 174% higher than those on MFA sites. Plus, conversion rates on quality sites are 91% higher than conversion rates on Ad Clutter sites — showing a major difference in low-funnel campaign performance on quality sites versus MFA and Ad Clutter sites.

Cost per conversion (CPCV) data followed a similar story. CPCV rates on quality sites were 51% lower than on MFA sites, and 25% lower than those on Ad Clutter sites, rounding out the notion that, when it comes to MFA, advertisers don’t need to choose between quality and cost efficiency.

IAS's AI-powered MFA solution helps advertisers increase conversions and reduce wasted ad spend

Through the fusion of advanced machine learning and real-time data analysis, our AI-powered model detects and blocks MFA sites at scale, empowering advertisers with unparalleled control over their campaigns.

With IAS’s new MFA measurement and optimization products, you can take back control of your media quality and cut down on wasted ad spend to drive superior results. 

ADVANCED MACHINE LEARNING FOR PROTECTION AT SCALE

We do not rely on a static site list to identify MFA sites. IAS provides the only solution that combines both supply chain data and site characteristics. Our AI-powered model intelligently and dynamically identifies MFA sites in real time so you can protect your campaigns at scale. 

When identifying sites as MFA or not, the fundamental question we want to answer is: is the site conducting ad arbitrage? To get to the bottom of this, we have to ask two key questions:

1. Is the majority of traffic coming to the site paid or organic? Supply chain data collected from our partner Jounce Media helps us find a conclusion to this question.
2. Is the primary purpose of the site to deliver content or ads? We then examine site characteristics collected from our partner Sincera to answer this question.

Our machine learning model then incorporates the Jounce and Sincera signals along with additional signals from IAS. If the majority of traffic coming to the site is paid and the primary purpose of the site is to deliver ads, then the model will flag the site as MFA.

INDUSTRY-ALIGNED DEFINITION OF MFA

Our MFA measurement and optimization product supports the ANA’s definition of MFA and has been trained, and is routinely vetted against, Jounce Media’s widely adopted list of MFA domains, resulting in the industry’s first pressure-tested solution for detecting and blocking MFA at scale.

DELIVER SUPERIOR CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE

The impact of MFA detection transcends conventional metrics. By avoiding MFA sites, advertisers can unlock superior campaign performance and maximize their return on ad spend.

Drive maximum efficacy across the programmatic buying process with IAS

IAS’s expanded MFA AI-driven product is now available globally. For more information, read more about finding and avoiding MFA sites or contact an IAS representative today.

The post Boost Campaign Success with MFA Measurement & Optimization appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

Why is everyone talking about misinformation?

Misinformation isn’t a new problem in media. Exaggerated and completely fabricated stories have existed for centuries. But this year, digital media experts named “ads delivering near misinformation” as their top concern. 

So why is it such a hot topic right now?

We’re in the midst of a global election year, with voters in more than 60 countries heading to the polls in the coming months. Elections, and the flurry of news coverage they bring, lead to an influx of consumers spending more time with digital media. More consumers online means more opportunities for brands to be seen, but it’s crucial for brands to appear in the right places — after all, three-quarters of consumers say they feel less favorably toward brands that advertise on sites that spread misinformation.

Plus, the rise of generative AI in digital media has marketers worrying that it may play a hand in expediting the creation and dissemination of misinformation across the open web and social channels. In fact, some experts claim that as much as 90% of online content could be AI-generated by 2026.

Three major misinformation challenges

Misinformation has evolved over years. Today, marketers face three main challenges when it comes to misinformation on the open web and social media. These challenges exist in both generative AI and election-related content — and far beyond. 

1. Fact checking: Fact checking has been a critical best practice in media for some time, and it’s more important than ever in the presence of increasing misinformation. But it requires effort and expertise from real humans, which can be time consuming and resource depleting when not accompanied by trained AI models.
2. Dynamic changes: Marketers are navigating new narratives that emerge every day across platforms. This revolving door of content can lead to reputation risk for brands if not monitored correctly and in real-time.
3. Nuanced classification: User-generated content (UGC) is incredibly nuanced. Given the range of content on the open web and social media — whether it be educational, comedic, sarcastic, or even violent — varied tone in UGC is a major challenge for marketers to accurately identify.

So how can advertisers overcome these challenges to detect and dodge misinformation with precision — and without limiting scale?

The importance of independent partnerships when tackling misinformation

One of the most critical components of misinformation measurement are the independent, third-party partnerships that set the parameters for what content is considered misinformation. Our misinformation capability on both the open web and social media is informed by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), and an international fact checking network that enables misinformation categorization at scale, aligned with GARM standards.

Since 2021, we’ve partnered with GDI to help brands avoid misinformation, ensuring journalistic integrity and reaffirming support for quality news sites. Once IAS assesses which sites have strong correlations to sources of misinformation, GDI then evaluates the page to determine if it qualifies as misinformation or not, according to their proprietary methodology. In addition, GDI shares their list of organically detected domains for inclusion in our misinformation measurement capability. This unique combination of AI and manual review allows IAS to protect advertisers from risky content at scale. Our partnership with GDI builds on IAS’s expertise in brand safety and suitability, allowing us to align with a trusted, transparent, and independent industry body to identify any domains associated with misinformation.

Our misinformation analysis methodology, which we apply across both open web and social media channels, was trained and re-trained with always-on third-party data, and continues to evolve to include viral misinformation narratives and claims — meaning our misinformation methodology is always up to date with the latest misinformation narratives in market. With all of these signals, it’s important to note that IAS remains a neutral party.

Detecting misinformation across the open web

The internet is a big place. We’re talking billions of pages big. Hundreds of thousands of URLs are created every day, meaning new sources of misinformation can pop up at any time. The sheer amount of URLs created daily coupled with the automated nature of programmatic advertising can make it challenging for brands to completely avoid appearing on sites that publish misinformation.

Misinformation measurement across the open web is vital for advertisers to understand if their brand is protected during an election season. Most misinformation measurement solutions, however, rely solely on human review of URL lists. The issue with that is clear — it’s simply impossible for humans to be the only source of misinformation detection and do so accurately.

The single most scalable and efficient way to identify misinformation on the open web is through a combination of AI, human, and independent, third-party review, and IAS’s misinformation measurement is the industry’s most scientific and scalable solution. Our enhanced misinformation detection leverages trusted and safe AI and goes far beyond human-only review to detect emerging threats by determining which sites have a strong correlation to other well known sources of misinformation. Plus, our partnerships with GARM and GDI allow for trusted, transparent misinformation categorization that continues to evolve to bring the most sophisticated brand safety and suitability capability to market.

And we don’t stop there.

Identifying misinformation across social platforms

Social media is also at the forefront of advertisers’ minds as we approach global elections — and understandably so. With tens of thousands of thoughts, photos, and videos making their way to social media every second, it’s incredibly difficult for brands to gauge what their ads will show up next to.

Advertisers should look to independent solutions that help cut through the abundance of content and variability of social media. Without knowing where they’re appearing on the feed, brands risk appearing near content that spreads false narratives and masquerades fabricated content as real news.

IAS’s Brand Safety and Suitability measurement is the most effective way for advertisers to safeguard and scale their brand on social media during a major election year. Powered by AI-driven Multimedia Technology,* our solutions use frame-by-frame video analysis and speech-to-text conversion to analyze thousands of signals per video and identify misinformation with accuracy. IAS’s misinformation methodology has the advantage our 3+ years of experience analyzing open web misinformation data. This extensive training allows IAS to analyze the tone of content with precision — whether it be satire, sarcasm, educational, or fear-mongering — for the most accurate categorization of misinformation on the feed.

Our Brand Safety and Suitability measurement product includes the GARM 12th category for misinformation on select platforms and is consistent with the GARM Framework. With third-party transparency into ad adjacency, advertisers can now measure and take steps to avoid running alongside misinformation. Combining our Multimedia Technology with trusted third-party misinformation assessment providers creates a market-leading misinformation methodology that more accurately identifies misinformation at scale.

How can misinformation be avoided?

Advertisers have traditionally turned to keyword blocking in an attempt to avoid appearing near words and phrases that don’t align with their brand — but this outdated approach doesn’t cut it anymore.

Keyword blocking doesn’t take into account the context, sentiment, or emotion of a given webpage. Without an understanding of the true intention behind a piece of content, brands miss out on reach and block diverse content, diverse content creators, or other information that consumers seek out. 

While measurement gives transparency needed to detect misinformation, advertisers can go even further to avoid misinformation with more accuracy and scalability than keyword blocking. Products like IAS’s Context Control Avoidance helps advertisers actively avoid sources of and topics about misinformation on the open web while still providing the opportunity for expanded reach. Context Control Avoidance technology leverages IAS’s semantic intelligence engine, which advertisers can then use to exclude not only the sources identified as misinformation, but all content relating to misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories.

Only IAS offers the ability to choose from GARM-defined risk levels and media types, like entertainment, politics, news, and more, to give advertisers a tailored approach to avoiding harmful misinformation that still allows for scale and support for quality journalism.

Additionally, Brand Safety and Suitability measurement through our flagship Total Media Quality product suite on social platforms can inform advertisers’ suitability strategies. While the approach varies by platform due to tools available, brands can identify trends and optimize away from misinformation with granular reporting insights. 

Here’s how brands can avoid misinformation as a result of misinformation measurement on social:

• Shift media budgets: Test shifting budgets from placements where misinformation may be more present and measure the impacts.
• First-party tools: Where available, consider activating platform first-party tools to avoid certain GARM risk levels, inclusive of misinformation, and monitor performance to ensure brand safety and suitability performs as expected.
• Third-party optimization products: On select platforms, consider Brand Safety Exclusion or Block Lists, which offer protection to avoid running ads next to unsuitable content or publishers.

And we offer brands a number of methods to avoid misinformation on open web:

• IAS Brand Safety: Automatically avoid misinformation through IAS’s partnership with the GDI by simply setting your risk threshold to moderate or stricter, for our standard Offensive Language & Controversial Content category. We recommend that clients only interested in avoiding sources of misinformation activate via brand safety.
• IAS Context Control: IAS Context Control misinformation segments are ideal for advertisers who wish to extend protection beyond just sources of misinformation and include protection for topics related to misinformation. With Context Control, you have more granularity, as we have seven different segments available depending on your risk threshold and content types (such as news, entertainment, and video gaming), all aligned to the GARM framework.

Taking action on misinformation today

Advertisers will always want to avoid misinformation — but not all methods of doing so are created equal. An overly risk-averse approach, like stopping ad spend in news, prevents your brand from appearing in highly scalable contexts and hurts quality journalism. A strategic and thoughtful approach to avoiding misinformation allows brands to scale confidently on channels where it matters most this election season.

Here are the three key ways IAS gives you the most comprehensive and accurate approach to detecting and avoiding misinformation:

1. We’re everywhere: Our misinformation capability is built to scale across channels. Starting with open web and social, our model is engineered to rapidly expand soon to CTV and other emerging channels.
2. We’re more accurate: Our trusted AI-driven frame-by-frame analysis delivers up to 74% more accurate brand suitability reporting across social media platforms vs. limited sample frame analysis across GARM categories.
3. We partner with independent networks: We leverage a network of third-party service providers and fact checking agencies from around the world, including human fact checkers.

A comprehensive solution that protects all ends of the digital ad cycle is critical. End-to-end, AI-driven measurement coupled with optimization solutions that are tailored to each brand’s respective needs are key to detecting and avoiding misinformation on the internet’s most prolific and unpredictable environments. Ensure you’re choosing a partner who can safeguard and scale your brand — and stay away from point solutions who can’t cover open web or provide limited misinformation capabilities:

You can avoid misinformation, protect your brand, and continue to scale this election season. Keep reading about how IAS helps you avoid misinformation, and reach out to an IAS representative today to get started.

 

*Methodology may vary by platform.

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Enhanced solution helps advertisers reduce media waste and increase return on investment

UPDATE: We are happy to announce that our Made for Advertising (MFA) AI-driven product is now generally available globally. To learn more about this global efficiency product, please reach out to an IAS representative today. 

IAS is pleased to announce the expansion of our Made for Advertising (MFA) AI-driven product. This enhancement provides advertisers with the first product to measure and optimize against both MFA and Ad Clutter sites to drive maximum efficacy across the programmatic buying process. 

MFA sites are web pages built to conduct ad arbitrage and feature low quality content (e.g. spam sites, or ad farms) created solely to serve ads, whereas Ad Clutter sites feature high ad density and high ad-to-content ratio, leading to lower performance. As opposed to a static exclusion list, IAS uses advanced machine learning technology and additional signals to identify both MFA and Ad Clutter sites. 

IAS’s global MFA product offers insights for both advertisers and publishers, including:

• ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES: Measure and optimize against both MFA and Ad Clutter sites to drive programmatic campaign efficacy
• ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES: Activate pre-bid avoidance to reduce media waste and increase return on investment
• PUBLISHERS: Garner greater insight into inventory with solutions for how to improve quality and drive greater engagement with advertisers

An IAS analysis from over 40 global agencies and brands found traffic served on sites classified as non-MFA have a +278% better conversion rate than traffic served on sites classified as MFA. The analysis also found that quality media was more cost efficient than sites classified as MFA, delivering lower cost-per-conversion by 63%. 

IAS’s expanded MFA AI-driven product is now available globally. For more information, read more about detecting and avoiding MFA or contact an IAS representative.

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