The Programmatic Glossary
A practical glossary designed to help marketers, advertisers and ad-tech professionals understand the terminology that powers programmatic advertising
Fraud & Brand Safety
Ad Fraud
Any dishonest activity designed to generate fake ad revenue or trick advertisers into paying for ads that were never seen by real genuine users. Fraudsters often fabricate the very metrics advertisers use to judge success — impressions, clicks, conversions and even video completions — making campaigns look far more effective than they actually are. It's a multi-billion dollar problem that affects the entire advertising industry.
HOW IT WORKS
Fraudsters create fake websites or apps that generate artificial traffic using bots (automated programs). These bots 'view' ads, creating the impression of real users and generating revenue for the fraudster. Other methods include domain spoofing (pretending to be a premium website), ad stacking (layering multiple ads on top of each other so only the top one is visible) and click fraud (fake clicks to drain advertiser budgets).
EXAMPLE
A fraudster builds a website that looks legitimate and buys cheap bot traffic to inflate its visitor numbers. Advertisers think they're reaching real people on a popular site and pay accordingly. In reality, no human ever sees the ads.
RELATED TERMS
Invalid Traffic (IVT) | Bot Traffic | Brand Safety | Domain Laundering | Traffic Scoring
★ LIMELIGHT INSIGHT: Limelight supports custom Invalid traffic (IVT) vendor integration for both pre-bid and post-bid fraud scanning, helping partners protect advertiser budgets and maintain inventory quality.
