Pixalate recently announced the launch of Made for Advertising (MFA) technology built to detect and block MFA websites, connected TV (CTV) and mobile apps by rating the sites with a high, medium, or low MFA risk classifications. This new solution is available in beta across the Pixalate product suite.
While the problem of MFA sites is decreasing, Sonia Carreno, president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IABC), says some advertisers are still opting to participate in open, unfiltered programmatic markets and continue to focus their efforts on vanity metrics like clickthroughs and viewability. This makes these brands particularly vulnerable to landing on MFAs.
“Made for Advertising sites or MFAs present a serious issue to the supply chain in that they are designed to divert ad spend from high quality publishers with content designed for audiences. The diversion poses a problem from a brand safety and suitability perspective while providing very little value from a true performance perspective like end conversion,” says Carreno.
“This nefarious category of sites also hampers the industry’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. MFAs produce a tremendous amount of carbon due to the amount of activity that takes place to attract traffic in the first place, the sheer volume of transactions MFAs generate through questionable practices and the poor design standards involved in these properties. The best way to eliminate MFAs is leveraging Private Marketplaces built from publishers who practice the highest standards.”
MFA sites use intrusive techniques like pop-up ads, auto-play videos, or ads restricting access to content. The new Pixelate feature detects MFA sites in CTV and apps by incorporating metrics beyond ad refresh and ad density to include the age of the app, invalid traffic rates, user ratings, and popularity rankings.
A consortium of marketing and advertising trade organizations have agreed on a definition of what qualifies as an MFA. The signs include high ad-to-content ratio, rapid auto-refreshing ad placements, heavy reliance on paid traffic sources and little to no organic traffic, generic or templated content and poorly design and templated websites.
Marissa Cristiano, group account director at Cossette Media, says MFAs are compelling the industry to think about intentional traffic for publishers. “Did a consumer click through because of a genuine interest in the article, and did the publisher generate a valuable experience that was congruent with the consumer’s interest in return? That’s a true measure of valuable clicks and website quality than traditional invalid traffic (IVT) measures. However, we don’t have a universal way to measure that right now.”
She says a recent report by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers in the U.S.) indicated that MFAs comprise 15% of ad spend. She hasn’t seen a Canadian-specific breakdown, but says the good news is that this is nowhere near the majority of ad dollars. However, if advertisers are not paying attention to site experience and quality, then MFA sites can gobble up portions of ad budget.
“Educating ourselves and our clients is paramount. As an agency, we are working with measurement partners that give a clear view of the supply path and align our clients to meaningful and effective KPIs that properly illustrate the value of quality inventory and environments,” says Cristiano.
“Advertisers with shallow approaches to measurement may be incentivized to spend in these environments because MFA’s often show up as high-traffic properties and perform well on campaign reports. Now equipped with this knowledge, advertisers are faced with a choice. Do we continue to accept MFAs and the low-cost and quality traffic they bring or, instead, do we choose to invest in quality websites that fund original content and grow their audiences organically through quality traffic with engaged users? Ultimately, this is a risk-tolerance and value-driven decision for each individual brand.”
Image via Pixabay
