Ad spend fraud set to reach $68bn globally

Global advertising spend lost to fraud is predicted to grow at the same rate of the booming digital advertising market and will reach $68bn this year, new research has found.

Juniper Research found digital ad spend fraud in 2021 was $59bn and predicts this to increase to $68bn this year.

This means the rate of ad fraud growth would roughly match that of digital adspend market. Media agency Zenith forecast that global digital adspend would grow by 14% to $473bn in 2022 – more than 60% of the overall global advertising market.

The UK will be one of the top five most-affected countries this year along with the US, Japan, China and South Korea.

These countries will make up 60% of digital ad spend fraud worldwide this year, with the US predicted to make up 35% (or $23bn) of these losses.

Juniper Research forecasts that total lost revenue through advertising fraud in the UK will reach $2.7bn this year.

The study analysed online, mobile browsing, in-app and install attribution fraud and included five-year forecasts for total number of fraudulently clicked ads, total advertising spend saved through artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms and total lost revenue through advertising fraud.

Juniper Research’s report Digital Advertising Fraud: Key Trends, Competitor Landscape & Market Forecasts 2022-2026 recommends advertisers in these markets to “form strategic partnerships” with ad fraud detection and prevention services.