Solve Media Bot Traffic Market Advisory Update shows 51% of web activity in the US suspected to be fraudulent; a rise of 8% in Q3 2013
NEW YORK CITY — Solve Media issued its Quarterly Bot Traffic Market Advisory update. For Q3, the data showed fraudulent web traffic tipping the scale in the United States for the first time, reaching an all-time high of 51%, an 8% increase over Q2 2013. Suspicious mobile activity in the United States also increased, up from 22% in Q2 2013 to 27%.
Looking globally, Q3’s data revealed that Estonia (83%), Singapore (79%) and China (77%) had the highest levels of fraudulent web activity overall. In the UK, suspicious web activity increased, reaching 47%, up from 44%.
“As fraudulent web traffic in the US rises, marketers must defend their hard-fought budgets by investing with publishers that ensure their branding is being seen by actual people who can truly complete purchases,” said Ari Jacoby, CEO of Solve Media. “With a verified audience, comes the guarantee that brand marketing will be effective online. As the market size of global display spending swells to $48.2B in 2014*, it’s a clear win for both publishers and advertisers to ensure audiences are human. To that end, we will see a rapid increase in investments made to protect audience integrity, as advertisers demand secure, verified engagements.”
For the third quarter in a row, global bot traffic remained consistent in a range of 22% – 29% for web advertising and 11% – 14% for mobile advertising. Suspicious web activity remained consistent globally in a range of 43% – 47%.
Solve Media, a leader in the security and digital advertising industries, has been monitoring bot traffic for four years. Currently, the company reviews a monthly average of over 270 million human verifications across more than 7,500 global publishers. Solve Media’s anti-bot CAPTCHA security platform specifically addresses bot traffic affecting publishers, advertisers and agencies by authenticating that audiences are, in fact, human.
“Today’s data is a wake up call for unprotected US publishers and advertisers alike – as an industry, we can no longer deny that bot traffic is eating away at the overall quality and effectiveness of our collective saleable audience. Think of it this way – a premium could be charged by publishers who commit to ensuring human verification of audiences – that level of security and guaranteed performance is where publishers should focus first as they attempt to create and sell new advertising products to brands,” said Chris Wysopal, Chief Technology Officer, Veracode and member of Solve Media’s Security Council.
Bots crowd web, video and mobile traffic and cause advertisers to pay for impressions, views and clicks that are not being engaged with by real people. Malicious bots undermine the security of the web and cause harm, including stealing publisher content, creating spam assets and phishing.
About Solve Media
Solve Media was founded by veteran entrepreneurs and technologists focused on innovative Internet advertising and security solutions. The company’s proprietary online and mobile advertising platform, the TYPE-IN™, was designed to create highly effective opportunities for brands to engage with real consumers. With this platform, Solve Media guarantees brand message delivery, brand lift and return on investment for advertisers. Additionally, the platform creates new revenue opportunities for publishers, and saves time for consumers. Solve Media is based in New York City and Philadelphia, with offices across North America and Europe.
* Based on estimates from ZenithOptimedia, September 2013
