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“35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

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Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#141

Post by jamiequint »

dheera wrote: post #6
thrownaway954 wrote: post #3

adnauseam.io i don't know how many people actually install this extension, but it is specifically designed to clicks ads so you don't have to :)

This is awesome. I thought about exactly doing that at one point, since I block most ads, although I do it via /etc/hosts instead of AdBlock, so that makes it a little harder. I also have custom CSS/JS rules to block those infuriating chat box popups on various websites and thought it might be fun to not only block them but also run a chat bot on them in the background for every chat box that pops up unsolicited. Was…

How is breaking the mechanism that makes the internet free be producing tons of fraudulent clicks "awesome" in any way?

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#142

Post by thatguy0900 »

crumbshot wrote: post #19
thrownaway954 wrote: post #3

adnauseam.io i don't know how many people actually install this extension, but it is specifically designed to clicks ads so you don't have to :)

That looks great. I already use an adblocker, but playing a small part in interfering with their pay-per-click mechanisms sounds much more compelling. Are there any downsides to using this?

As others have said, any service doing fraud prevention might ban you. It doesn't seem to be happening yet, but that could change any time it got popular and they would be pretty justified doing it.

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#143

Post by beojan »

Nextgrid wrote: post #91
b_ocu wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the entire selling point of online ads, which is giving a chance to smaller players a chance at the game. Aunt Mae's cookie shop will never be able to compete with Pepsi for airtime

The problem is that opening up the market to "Aunt Mae" will also open up the market to malicious players. The financial barrier of entry of TV & print advertising is a very effective filter against scams. I have yet to see scam ads for fake tech support or "win an iPhone by filling a survey" or some "free" trial which uses unreadable fine print to sign you up for something very expensive, but those are commonplace o…

NordVPN's ads have made it onto TV, and a lot of TV ads nowadays are for gambling. Nevertheless it certainly is easier to regulate advertising if it isn't dynamic.

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#144

Post by fsociety »

earthboundkid wrote: post #8

Every newspaper in America has obvious scam ads on its homepage. The whole online ad market is diseased and needs to be uprooted. Common sense fixes: - Never allow dynamic ad content! Ads should be individually approved by publishers and not subject to change after approval. - Ban user tracking and targeting. It's a red queen's race and no one benefits. Everyone is better off once it's illegal. - Pay for ad time slot…

Sounds like a great way to entrench larger companies that can pay for this advertising model.

We underestimate the value small businesses get from the current ad market. It’s partly because of this value that ad fraud is rampant.

Enabling small businesses to advertise to cheap also makes it cheap for fraudulent advertisers to commit ad fraud.

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#145

Post by jamiequint »

nvr219 wrote: post #93

I completely forgot Reddit even has ads. I was watching a screen share on someone else's computer who was looking at a news article and I was completely shocked at the experience. How do people live without adblock?

Some people aren't selfish assholes and want the sites they use to continue to exist.

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#146

Post by thatguy0900 »

kikki wrote: post #97
24gttghh wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one way to kill the ad industry, and I'm all for it!

And what should replace the ad industry - to keep websites running?

Maybe nothing. If it's a valuable service, a small subscription or micro transaction. If Noone is willing to pay for it, even the site owner themselves, maybe it doesn't actually need to be around. I think alot of labor of love sites would remain.

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#147

Post by stevesearer »

earthboundkid wrote: post #8

Every newspaper in America has obvious scam ads on its homepage. The whole online ad market is diseased and needs to be uprooted. Common sense fixes: - Never allow dynamic ad content! Ads should be individually approved by publishers and not subject to change after approval. - Ban user tracking and targeting. It's a red queen's race and no one benefits. Everyone is better off once it's illegal. - Pay for ad time slot…

On my site we follow a couple of the practices you mention:

- No dynamic ad content (we do allow geo-ip targeting for continents and countries, but this is using a self-hosted maxmind list)

- Half-month or Monthly advertising time slots

In addition to those practices, we also do the following:

- Self-host our ads

- Sell our own ads and have direct relationship with the ad buyers

- No animated advertising (only static graphics)

- Advertising is tailored to the content on our website which is an indirect way of targeting users (if users enjoy our content, they will likely find value in the ads).

edit: One of the benefits of the time-slot method of selling advertising is that it doesn't encourage methods of maximizing impressions (clickbait, galleries, etc) and also there is no reason to try to game clicks as with CPC.

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#148

Post by jpadkins »

Nextgrid wrote: post #26
shajznnckfke wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you going to tell which traffic is fraud if you ban tracking?

If the ads are billed per period of time and not per-click or per-view then "fraud" doesn't matter; all that matters is the overall ROI; if the advertiser gets more business than what it cost them to run the ad they will consider it a worthwhile investment, otherwise they will stop advertising there forcing the publisher to adjust their prices and eventually those prices will reflect the true value (as in how much RO…

if you have 3 campaigns with 3 ad networks or ad platforms, how do you measure the ROI of the campaigns without tracking?

How do you know if Facebook or pinterest is better ROI for your marketing budget?

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#149

Post by ffritz »

I’m getting the same ad on the reddit app over and over again for what feels like a year, and it’s so bad I would never even think of clicking on it.

Now that I write this, I notice that’s actually true for most ads I see because they would require a pihole and I haven’t gotten around to setting one up.

It really feels like the ad business is inherently flawed these days. Who clicks on ads? How many of those are going through with a purchase? There is just way too many and poorly created ads for any brand to stand out from all that garbage people get shoved in their face all day.

Re: “35-50% of clicks on Reddit Ads are fraudulent”

#150

Post by koverda »

jamiequint wrote: post #145
nvr219 wrote: post #93

I completely forgot Reddit even has ads. I was watching a screen share on someone else's computer who was looking at a news article and I was completely shocked at the experience. How do people live without adblock?

Some people aren't selfish assholes and want the sites they use to continue to exist.

I unblock ads on sites I find useful, use frequently and want to actively support. If the ads aren't obnoxious, they stay unblocked.

Sites wouldn't exist without the users, so they should keep in mind user experience when deciding how to monetize.

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