Online advertising has been hailed as the perfect combination of creativity and data. With the ability to test different ad styles and receive instant results, it's no wonder that almost every aspect of digital advertising is measurable. However, recent reports have revealed discrepancies and inaccuracies in the data, raising doubts about the accuracy and effectiveness of online advertising.
According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), only 36% of ad spending on demand-side platforms actually reaches the intended audience. This means a high percentage of ad spend is wasted on non-viewable ads or those displayed to bots. Author Bob Hoffman goes even further, estimating that only 3% of digital ad spend actually reaches human eyes.
So what's causing these alarming discrepancies in the reported numbers? One major issue is non-viewable impressions, where ads are displayed on a page but not actually seen by the visitor. This can happen due to technical glitches or fraudulent practices such as using bots to create fake impressions.
Another problem is the lack of control over where ads are displayed. Advertisers may intend for their ads to be shown on major media sites, but they could end up on irrelevant affiliate sites that don't attract their target audience. This can be caused by human error or confusion in the advertising process.
Ad fraud is another significant issue in online advertising, with various fraudulent practices such as using bots, ad stacking, and pixel stuffing. This can result in misleading data and wasted ad spend.
Even with honest and trustworthy ad representatives, there are still many factors that can contribute to inaccurate data. And with different metrics being used by different platforms, it's difficult to get a clear and accurate picture of the effectiveness of online advertising.
One of the main challenges of online advertising is attribution, or determining which touchpoints should get credit for a sale. This is crucial for optimizing ad spend, but it's complicated by the fact that different platforms use different methods of tracking conversions.
Despite these challenges and doubts about the accuracy of online advertising data, it's important for businesses to continue investing in advertising. After all, advertising has been proven to influence purchasing decisions. The real question is whether we should believe in adtech, the technology that provides all this data.
While adtech offers a lot of data, it's becoming increasingly clear that some of it may be misleading or even deceptive. Perhaps it's time for modern ad buyers to go back to basics and rely on the principles of traditional advertising, rather than putting all their faith in the numbers provided by adtech. Only time will tell if this approach will lead to more effective and accurate advertising.
Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/online-advertising-the-funny-fuzzy-math/
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