The Trustworthy Accountability Group’s third annual European Fraud Benchmark Study found that invalid ad traffic measured from advertisers and agencies that implemented TAG anti-fraud guidelines rose from 2019 and 2020 rates of 0.53% in both years, to an aggregated 2021 rate of 0.69% across desktop and mobile display and video advertising.
TAG tasked The 614 Group to collect and aggregate ad impressions with three leading agency holding companies – GroupM, Omnicom Media Group, and Publicis Groupe – along with their accredited measurement vendors – for campaigns executed from January 2020 to December 2020.  The data represented advertising campaigns executed in five European countries: UK, Germany, France, Italy and The Netherlands.  The analysis evaluated 100% of ad impression data, not a statistical sample.
Video (connected TV and OTT) ad fraud peaked in Q2 of 2020 at 1.58%, and fell to 0.62% in Q4.
Read TAG’s press release about the 2021 European fraud study
Read the TAG 2021 European Fraud Benchmark Study itself
Read TAG’s Certified Against Fraud Guidelines
Why it matters
TAG claims that advertisers implementing TAG’s recommended anti-fraud practices can cut fraud by about 90%.
