Why IPL creates a great opportunity for ad fraudsters

As brands escalate their ad spends during the cricketing carnival of IPL, afaqs! Inspects the risks of ad fraud that come along with it.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is more than just a cricketing extravaganza. The popularity and unparalleled reach of the tournament has turned it into a treasure trove of advertising opportunities for brands. But an advertising commodity of such magnitude is always within the radar of ad fraudsters.

Ad fraud is the deliberate practice of generating bot clicks, false impressions, or inorganic conversions on digital ads to extract money from advertisers. According to Juniper Research, $68 billion of digital advertising spend globally was potentially lost to digital ad fraud in 2022. As such, IPL’s prominence makes it a prime target for fraudsters to siphon off money.

Other sporting events such as Football World Cup, UFC, among others also suffer on account of ad fraud. This happens abundantly on websites that pirate the matches, where the web pages are infested with fraudulent ads and ad placements.

There are several ways in which ad fraud can occur during the IPL. With so many brands coming up with customised and dedicated campaigns for the tournament, the ads are often supplementarily placed across digital publishers, and social media. This leads to an increased exposure to fraudulent activities such as:

 ~Bot traffic: When bots emulate human behaviour to produce false clicks and impressions.

~Domain spoofing: When fraudulent websites impersonate a company.

~Ad stacking: When multiple ads are layered on top of each other in a single ad placement.

~Click fraud: When publishers drive invalid clicks on pay-per-click (PPC) ads on their own website.

Dhiraj Gupta, co-founder and CTO, mFilterIt, a global ad fraud detection company, highlights that ad fraud is often more visible during popular sporting events, because of the aggregated elevation of ad spends. With the limited ad inventory available to advertisers on digital, he reveals that the risk of running into fraud is amplified.

He says, “Everyone wants to take advantage of the IPL, and rightfully so. But the problem is, brands are increasing their efforts to target audiences (across digital), but there is a limited ad inventory available to them. The potential for ad fraud jumps up, consequently.”

One of the interesting ways the ad fraud occurs during the IPL is through cricketing sites that display scores. To update live scores, these webpages continuously refresh themselves to provide real-time information. “What we’ve seen is, these websites then start refreshing at a very high frequency. For the brands that place their ads on these websites, this essentially means more expenditure on account of invalid traffic.”

Gupta also suggests that there is a demand for advertising alternatives in digital which as of now isn’t met through the limited ad inventory provided by the current digital infrastructure. With the increased costs of advertising during the flagship cricketing tournament, the fraudulent efforts see a significant rise.

“Whenever there is a demand-supply imbalance, there occurs a bubble. The costs go up, and the delta of demand and supply is filled by bots. The CPM at which you buy traffic during IPL is far more than normal periods. There is more money for the same number of impressions, which becomes the prime target for fraudsters.”

As per Nachiket Deole, head of sales - India, DoubleVerify, IPL being a premium inventory is always under the scanner of fraudsters, and it is a common occurrence for fraudsters to up their efforts during popular events. He points out that the nature of fraud determines the kind of response it warrants, especially since little to no judicial restraint can be enforced.

“Fraudsters often use bots that mimic human behaviour, making it challenging to distinguish between real and fake traffic. Moreover, ad fraud is a global problem, with fraudsters operating in multiple countries, making it difficult for brands to pursue legal action against them. Brands must rely on advanced fraud detection tools, partnerships with verified publishers, and regular audits to combat ad fraud.”

According to multiple researches, more than 10 percent of global ad spends are lost to ad fraud. Brands face significant challenges in neutralising this threat as ad fraud has become increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect. The problem first, is to identify who the fraudsters are.

Aditya Chokhani, VP-strategy, Auburn Digital Solutions, reveals that these entities could range between individuals to full-blown businesses. He says, “Fraudsters may be people, teams, or businesses that employ botnets, click farms, bogus websites, or organisations that falsify ad placements.”

Chokhani also suggests that the only people who stand to profit from ad fraud are scammers themselves. But how do brands deal with this growing menace? 

He answers, “The strategies used by fraudsters to avoid detection and carry out fraudulent actions are continually changing. It is difficult for brands to keep up and put in place practical defenses."

“Brands must adopt a proactive strategy and put strong fraud detection and prevention mechanisms in place to eliminate the threat of ad fraud. This entails working with trustworthy partners, putting in place mechanisms for fraud detection and prevention, keeping a careful eye on campaigns, and utilising viewability tracking and ad verification.”