video ads are skyrocketing due to the continued shift of ad dollars from TV into digital. But the fraud is also rampant, in fact larger or a higher percentage of the inventory compared with other forms for digital ads.

1. Augustine Fou- 1 -
Dr. Augustine Fou
http://linkd.in/augustinefou
January 2015
Video Ad Fraud
is Most Rampant

2. Augustine Fou- 2 -
“It is possible that the entire year-over-year
increase 2013 vs 2012 (or 75% of the current
observed video ad views) is fraudulent – i.e.
caused by non-human viewers (aka ‘bots’). The
reports from Sandvine and comScore show lower
downstream bandwidth and flat unique users
and time spent, respectively. Even the doubling of
ad-load cannot account for a 4X increase in
‘video ad views’.”
-- Dr. Augustine Fou

3. Augustine Fou- 3 -
Monthly Network Traffic YoY
Sandvine 2H 2012 Global Internet Phenomena [PDF]
Sandvine 2H 2013 Global Internet Phenomena [PDF]
Sandvine 2H 2014 Global Internet Phenomena [PDF]
-13% (‘13 vs ‘12)
mean downstream
+29% (‘14 vs ‘13)
mean downstream

4. Augustine Fou- 4 -
What Downstream Means
Sandvine 2H 2012 Global Internet Phenomena [PDF] Sandvine 2H 2013 Global Internet Phenomena [PDF] Sandvine 2H 2014 Global Internet Phenomena [PDF]
2H 2012 2H 2013 2H 2014
Commentary
• There are no ads on Netflix
• Facebook jumped in rank by adding video (defaulted to auto-play)
• YouTube monthly average in 2H 2013 was 18.7% (7.1GB per month)
ads
ads
ads
ads
ads
ads
ads

5. Augustine Fou- 5 -
Time Spent on Online Video
in 2013 is flat to 20122012 2013
2013 hours and unique
viewers are FLAT to 2012
Source: comScore, Jan 2014

6. Augustine Fou- 6 -
But ad views exploded 4-fold
Source: comScore Feb 2014 via Marketing Charts
50 – 75%
NOT in view

7. Augustine Fou- 7 -
Smallest video ads are only 25% viewable
Medium video ads are 40% viewable
Large video ads are 50% viewable
Video Ad Viewability
Jan 2014 North America
Source: TubeMogul Jan 2014
50 – 75%
NOT in view

8. Augustine Fou- 8 -
Frequency rose 4-fold
reach increased 10%
Source: comScore Feb 2014 via Marketing Charts
10% increase in reach

9. Augustine Fou- 9 -
Video Minutes and Ads
Source: comScore April 2014 press release
Viewers watched 1,067 minutes of online
video in March 2014 (17.8 hours/mo or
36 mins per day)
Video ads were in 61.6 percent of all videos
viewed and 5.4% of all minutes spent
viewing video online
March 2014 Data
Source: comScore June 2013
Viewers watched 1,250 minutes of online
video in May 2013 (20.8 hours/mo or 42
mins per day)
Video ads accounted for 27.9 percent of all
videos viewed and 2.6% of all minutes
spent viewing video online
May 2013 Data

10. Augustine Fou- 10 -
Video Fraud (March 2014 data)
Total video ads March 2014 = 28.7B
Fake video ad impressions per day = 88.4M /day
Fake video ads per month = 2.7B /month
3 botnets accounted for 9.2% of video ad views
(assuming $10 CPMs, 3 botnets caused $27 million of waste in March)
Source: TubeMogul Report
Source: comScore
“from 3 botnets”

11. Augustine Fou- 11 -
Video Bots Double Display
Source: ANA / White Ops Study Published December 2014 [PDF]
The assumption that video ad
fraud is harder to commit and
therefore lower than display
or mobile fraud is wrong.
The ANA/WhiteOps study
from December 2014 shows
video ad fraud by bots is
double that of display ads
and can be as high as 62%
for premium (i.e. expensive)
video ad inventory).

12. Augustine Fou- 12 -
Dr. Augustine Fou – Technical Forensics
“I advise clients and their agencies on the
technical aspects of fighting digital ad fraud.
Using forensic technologies and techniques I
help to assess the threat and the current
countermeasures in order to recommend
additional steps that can be taken to combat
fraud and improve ROI.”
FORMER CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER, HCG (OMNICOM)
MCKINSEY CONSULTANT
CLIENT SIDE / AGENCY SIDE EXPERIENCE
PROFESSOR AND COLUMNIST
ENTREPRENEUR / SMALL BUSINESS OWNER
PHD MATERIALS SCIENCE (MIT '95) AT AGE 23
@acfou
ClickZ Articles: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-clickz
Slideshares: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-slideshares
LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/augustinefou acfou @ mktsci. com | 212.203.7239

13. Augustine Fou- 13 -
APPENDIX

14. Augustine Fou- 14 -
Click through rates
Engagement rate
Average engagement time (seconds)
Average video playtime (seconds)
Percent in-screen impressions
Video Ad Performance Metrics
Source: AdForm via eMarketer Oct 22, 2014
Source: comScore via eMarketer Sept 2014

15. Augustine Fou- 15 -
Online Video Starts (Adobe)
NOTE: These figures from Adobe are entirely different than the figures from
comscore (next slide); but ad load can still be calculated: 5.4%