Ad Stacking - You might be paying for ads, users are neither viewing nor clicking

Are your ads clicking with your audience, or are they falling into an invisible void, rendering your advertising efforts ineffective and draining your budget? As digital advertisers and publishers, you might already be familiar with the term "ad stacking," but are you aware of its potential impact on your campaigns?

According to AppLovin, ad stacking is one of the most common forms of ad fraud, surpassing even credit card fraud. It accounts for 20% ($66 billion) in global ad spend, affecting businesses of all sizes, from local SMBs to international enterprises. In this blog, we will dive into the world of ad stacking, exploring how it works, the threats it poses, and most importantly, how you can protect your advertising investments from this sneaky tactic.

How does ad stacking work?

Ad stacking is a deceptive ad fraud technique that takes advantage of multiple ad placements on a webpage. The process involves stacking several ads on each other, with only the top one visible to users. The remaining ads are hidden from view, meaning users can neither see nor click on them. This clever manipulation leads to falsely inflated ad impressions and, in some cases, even fabricated clicks, making it appear as if your ad is gaining more traction than it is.

Now, if the ads are not visible, how do the advertisers pay? This happens because the top ad is loaded correctly and as a result, the ads behind are also loaded. When we say ads are loaded, what we mean is that one pixel of the ad is shown to the user for at least half a second. This leads to advertisers paying for impressions which are recorded despite the ads not being visible to the naked eye of the users.

How dangerous is ad stacking?

For digital advertisers, the threats of ad stacking are multi-faceted. The list includes the following threats

1. Skewed Performance metrics- If you rely solely on impression and click-through rates (CTRs) to measure your ad's performance, you might unknowingly invest in underperforming campaigns. This is because ad stacking leads to skewed performance metrics making it challenging to gauge the actual success of an ad campaign as ad clicking is not even a priority but it’s the impressions that might lead to inaccurate decisions.
2. Loss of brand value- When your ads aren't genuinely seen or clicked, it negatively impacts your brand's reputation and the trust you have built with your target audience. Users might start associating your brand with intrusive and irrelevant ads, leading to a decline in brand loyalty and conversions.
3. Loss of premium inventory value- Ad stacking undermines the value of genuine ad spaces, resulting in reduced revenues for publishers. The suspicious ad stacking incident can lead to media buyers becoming overly cautious before doing business with publishers whose inventories are susceptible to such attacks. As a result, despite not being the source and having limited knowledge of such fraudulent practices in the background, publishers stand a chance of losing a lot of revenue
   
   

How to prevent ad stacking?

Protecting your ad campaigns from ad stacking requires vigilance and the right tools. Here are some actionable steps you can take to safeguard your investments:

1. Anti-ad fraud tools and integrations- Implementing robust ad fraud detection software, like ClearTrust is a crucial first step in combating ad stacking. These advanced tools utilize machine learning algorithms and real-time monitoring to identify and block fraudulent ad impressions, ad clicking and ensuring your ads are displayed to real users on genuine websites.
2. Monitor ad placements closely- Regularly review your ad placements to detect any unusual activity. Check for multiple ads stacked on top of each other or excessive ad density on a single webpage. Keeping a close eye on your ad spaces can help you identify potential instances of ad stacking early on.
   
3. Work with trusted publishers- Collaborating with reputable publishers can significantly reduce the risk of ad stacking. Choose publishers who adhere to industry best practices and have a transparent approach to ad placements and performance reporting.
   
4. Set clear objectives and KPIs- Establish clear campaign objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your advertising goals. By focusing on meaningful metrics such as conversions and engagement rates, you can better assess the true impact of your ads. Moreover, steps must be taken to ensure that the campaign reports are studied in detail to understand any usual occurring or strange performance metric from a similar target audience
5. Request third-party verification- Enlist the services of independent third-party ad verification companies to audit your ad campaigns. These organizations provide unbiased assessments of ad performance and ensure compliance with industry standards.
   
   Given the above-stated measures, it’s important to remember that the key to a successful digital advertising strategy lies not in the number of ad impressions or the number of ad clicks undertaken but in the value they bring to your brand and your audience. So, let's take the fight against ad stacking head-on and create a more transparent, effective, and rewarding advertising landscape for all stakeholders involved.