THE BOT STOPS HEREMANAGING ADVERTISING INVESTMENTS FOR A HUMAN AUDIENCE

IN JULY 2012, a digital distribution company's claim that 80% of clicks on its

ads on Facebook were from bots sparked new dialogue about the rise of bot traffic.

While the experience may not be common, the concern for efficient media spending is one shared by all marketers and ad agencies.

While the majority of bots come from the United States in

terms of absolute numbers, the countries with the highest

share of non-consumer traffic include:

While non-consumer traffic has been on the rise for years, Solve

Media found it grew from 5.7% to 26% across registration, voting,

commenting, and sharing since the beginning of 2011.

Approximately 38% of this traffic was from bots,

equating to 10% of total traffic.

POTENTIAL ADVERTISING INVESTMENT WASTE DUE TO BOTSBecause certain publishers attract more abberant traffic

than others, estimates vary regarding the share of traffic

comprised of bots. Regardless, potential media spend

wasted on bot traffic is significant.

SEEK OUT COST-PER-ENGAGEMENT (CPE) MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES THAT DEMAND HUMAN COGNITION.

Most media buys are made in the hopes that consumers will pay attention

and that those consumers are human. Why take chances on either?

EMBRACE PUBLISHERS THAT PROACTIVELY TAKE A STANCE AGAINST BOT TRAFFIC.

Seek out publishers that integrate anti-bot security solutions

and reputation management, which together ensure advertising

reaches only human audiences.

DEMAND THIRD-PARTY ATTITUDINAL RESEARCH THAT CONFIRMS EFFECTIVENESS.

Ensure the ad buy actually works by using measurements provided

by companies such as comScore, Dynamic Logic, and Vizu.

REQUIRE SITE TRANSPARENCY ON ALL NETWORK BUYS.

Make partners prove the quality of their traffic. Unviewable,

auto-play inventory is a breeding grounds for bots.

IMPLEMENT ATTRIBUTION TRACKING TECHNOLOGY ON ALL VIDEO BUYS.

This kind of technology tells media buyers where traffic is coming

from and what specifically is creating value from the buy.

comScore

Bot Traffic Estimate

Potential Waste

Solve Media Incapsula

BOT TRAFFIC

PUBLISHERS ARE BEING VICTIMIZED

This year, display advertising will reach an unprecedented

$15.3 billion out of the total online advertising market

valued at $39.5 billion, according to eMarketer.

MEDIA SPEND

5 STEPS TO PROTECTING YOUR ADVERTISING INVESTMENT AGAINST BOTS

TAIWAN

54%PHILIPPINES

43%

UNITED ARABEMIRATES

33%

SINGAPORE

56%

2011

5.7%

4%(The low end of

comScore’s 4-11% estimate)

Unless otherwise indicated, data is derived from analysis of Solve Media’s more than 100-million monthly transactions.

Additional Sources: comScore | eMarketer | Incapsula| The New York Times

$612MILLION

1

2

3

4

5

$1.5BILLION

$4.7BILLION

10%

31%

PRESENT

26%

$15.3BILLION

SAUDI ARABIA

29%

UNITED STATES

16%