At DMEXCO 2022, Grant Simmons, Vice President of Kochava Foundry, hosted a fireside chat where he discussed a noteworthy example that had everyone’s attention: in 2017, the U.S.-based company Uber lost about two-thirds of its total ad budget, to the tune of 100 million dollars, as a result of misdirected ads. Simmons also went on to explain how Uber noticed the ad fraud, how it responded, and what other companies can learn from the incident.
Hidden danger: the convoluted techniques behind ad fraud
Grant Simmons leads a team of data analysts. Together, they develop tailored strategies for companies. Kochava Foundry was tasked with hunting down the root cause of Uber’s ad fraud incident. The mandate has now expired, and Simmons can report on the case – and what companies need to watch out for in order to protect themselves.
“Either ads were registered despite never existing. Or ads were registered in a place that is full of seriously dubious data traffic but had been cleaned using a kind of ad tech mechanism to appear as a legitimate app. And that is quite simply fraud.”
So, what happened exactly? And most importantly, how could Uber become a victim of ad fraud? Simmons shares how the data specialists at Kochava got to the bottom of this act of fraud. The company’s vice president animatedly recounts the team’s experiences – it’s a really enlightening listen!
If you work in the media industry, you don’t want to miss this podcast episode.
We also asked Simmons:
- How can a company generally fall victim to this type of ad fraud?
- Has the industry learned anything from Uber’s case?
- Could blockchain technology be a solution to this kind of fraud?
- How widespread is sideloading in the context of ad fraud?
Happy listening!
