AI fraud a growing concern for APAC marketers – report

PHILIPPINES – December 8, 2024 – AI is reshaping digital advertising, bringing with it both new obstacles and great opportunities. More than half of marketers in the region are concerned about how AI-driven ad fraud is harming ad quality, per DoubleVerify’s 2024 APAC Report. This increasing concern highlights the need for cutting-edge solutions to address these dangers and safeguard campaign integrity.

Speaking at DigiCon Revolution 2024, Tinee Cruz, senior sales director of DoubleVerify Philippines, emphasized the increasing sophistication of ad fraud, particularly in high-value media environments such as Connected TV (CTV) and mobile platforms. Fraudsters now use AI to craft schemes that are harder to detect and target advertisers’ investments. Cruz stressed the importance of AI-powered solutions like Fraud AI and Classification AI to mitigate these threats effectively.

AI is both an innovation and a challenge for the advertising industry. While it enhances campaign optimization and targeting, fraudsters exploit the same technology to escalate their operations. The DoubleVerify report reveals that advanced AI tools, once expensive and exclusive, are now widely accessible, allowing fraudsters to create complex schemes at scale. This proliferation of fraudulent activities threatens media quality and diminishes advertisers’ return on investment (ROI).

Alarming trends

Generative AI, including deepfake technologies, has raised new concerns. Fraudsters use these tools to fabricate realistic fake content and falsify data patterns, complicating efforts to distinguish legitimate activity from fraud. In streaming environments, bot fraud has emerged as a significant issue. AI-generated bots mimic human behavior, creating authentic-looking user agents that evade traditional detection. The report reveals a 269 percent increase in the average number of fraud scheme variants in 2023, underscoring the rapid evolution of these threats.

Fraudsters also exploit AI to create shell websites and apps with fake reviews, deceiving advertisers into purchasing fraudulent inventory. Without robust verification systems, advertisers risk wasting budgets and undermining campaign quality. These issues highlight the need for enhanced detection measures to ensure ad placements reach genuine audiences.

Fight against AI-driven fraud

DoubleVerify demonstrates how AI can be a powerful tool to combat fraud. By analyzing vast datasets in real time, DoubleVerify’s Fraud Lab detects fraudulent patterns and schemes, enabling swift mitigation. Despite the growing sophistication of fraud, advertisers using DoubleVerify benefit from a low post-bid fraud rate of just 1.1 percent. This success stems from pre-bid protection measures that filter fraudulent inventory before ads are served. Focusing on media quality helps protect investments and ensures better campaign results.

Challenges in APAC’s digital landscape

Beyond fraud, the report highlights another critical issue: capturing consumer attention. Although digital ad spending in APAC continues to grow, engagement levels must catch up. The Attention Index measures ad exposure and user engagement using over 50 signals, offering insights to improve campaign strategies. It also identifies disparities across the region. While the Philippines recorded the lowest Attention Index score in APAC at 108, this is still above the global average, indicating room for growth rather than outright poor performance. These findings suggest a need for better strategies to optimize consumer engagement.

Traditional metrics like impressions and click-through rates are needed to gauge campaign success. Marketers must adopt new approaches that measure meaningful interactions and focus on attention-driven optimization. This shift will help advertisers maximize return on ad spend (ROAS) and achieve better outcomes.

Navigating the path forward

As AI continues to evolve, its influence on digital advertising will only deepen. For brands, the challenge lies in leveraging AI responsibly to enhance campaign performance while defending against threats to media quality.

At DigiCon Revolution 2024, Cruz urged advertisers to adopt AI-powered tools like Fraud AI and Classification AI. These technologies enable rapid responses to fraud, ensuring that campaigns align with industry standards for media quality and brand suitability. By investing in such tools, Cruz added that advertisers can safeguard their campaigns, boost engagement and maintain consumer trust.

Insights from DoubleVerify’s report

The DoubleVerify report reinforces the importance of vigilance in addressing AI-driven ad fraud. Fraudsters’ ability to scale operations using AI underlines the need for advanced verification measures and real-time detection capabilities. At the same time, the attention metrics highlight how essential it is for marketers to understand consumer behavior and embrace creative strategies to make their campaigns more effective.

As AI continues to shape advertising, its potential is matched by its risks. By staying proactive and using the right tools, marketers can create safer, more impactful campaigns that resonate with their audiences. This approach paves the way for safer, higher-quality ads that genuinely resonate and drive meaningful results.