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If Are You a Victim of Ad Fraud on YouTube, You May Never Know How Much It Costs You

If you buy ads, think about buying ads or know someone who does, you need to listen to this interview.

Today I spoke with two of the researchers who made headlines earlier this week in the Financial Times. In Episode 8, I reported how this research demonstrates that YouTube is great at detecting view fraud within its system but not as good at detecting associated ad fraud; the two are out of sync and “reported” at different rates.

I spoke with Mohamed Ahmed and Roberto Gonzalez of NEC today (Sept 24, 2015), two of the seven authors of this report. Their pre-published paper can be found here (http://arxiv.org/pdf/1507.08874v1.pdf). They provided additional background and insight into their work. This research started as the master’s thesis of lead author Miriam Marceal.

YouTubular Conversations

Our extended conversation is easy to understand and aimed at the marketers and communicators. We covered the methods used and the insights gleaned while they probed the YouTube ecosystem. An ecosystem which is largely a “black box” to researchers, YouTubers, and advertisers. This work is notable and interesting and is part of a larger effort to quantify and understand the ad tech environment that more and more of our online lives depend upon.

On Sept 22nd, 2015 I reached out to YouTube via Twitter asking them to make someone available to respond to the research but have had no reply.

RESEARCHERS:

Miriam Marciel NEC Labs Europe miriam.marciel @neclab.eu

Ruben Cuevas Universidad Carlos III de Madrid rcuevas @it.uc3m.es

Albert Banchs IMDEA Networks Institute Universidad Carlos III de Madrid albert.banchs @imdea.org

Roberto Gonzalez NEC Labs Europe Roberto.Gonzalez @neclab.eu

Stefano Traverso Politecnico di Torino stefano.traverso @polito.it

Mohamed Ahmed NEC Labs Europe Mohamed.Ahmed @neclab.eu

Arturo Azcorra IMDEA Networks Institute Universidad Carlos III de Madrid arturo.azcorra @imdea.org

About Harry Hawk

Harry Hawk is a marketing consultant focused on cross channel attribution, paid social, community building and content strategy. As an Adj. Prof (CUNY + SWCCD) he has a focus in Hospitality, Business, eCommerce & Event Management/Planning.

Harry has a diverse range of clients in Robotics, Logistics and Baking. Harry has worked with many companies including HubSpot Labs, Momentum Machines, Phillip Morris, Paramount Home Pictures, NY Water Taxi, and many other startups.