Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or there is large scale number fudging and fraud. Just remember no one is auditing what views, likes and clicks count Google and Facebook tell you, you are getting. Advertisers just milk corporations. They dont care if the numbers are fake. They are now trained to tell everyone to spend more or you dont get attention someone else will. As Goldharber once famously said , about the Attention Economy - people have limit…
Advertisers don't always insist on seeing evidence of genuine ROI but online advertising is more measurable than most other forms of ads and when the ROI slips a lot of ads customers notice and act accordingly.
Marketing is fascinating WRT to fraud because everyone benefits from it: the ad space provider, the ad marketplace, and the marketing team who needs to show performance.