Integral Ad Science flags rising ad fraud, highlights role of optimisation

New Delhi: Global leader in media measurement and optimisation, Integral Ad Science has released the 20th edition of its Media Quality Report (MQR), offering key benchmarks and insights drawn from more than 280 billion daily digital interactions worldwide.

The report examines media quality across display and video formats in desktop, mobile web, mobile app, and connected TV (CTV) environments, helping advertisers and publishers assess the performance and integrity of their digital media campaigns.

The latest MQR highlights several major shifts in the digital advertising ecosystem, especially across the open web. Notable findings include a sharp increase in ad fraud in non-optimized campaigns, a growing share of brand risk attributed to offensive and harmful content, and steady viewability rates amid a broader industry focus on newer metrics like attention.

“As digital media complexity accelerates, IAS remains steadfast in empowering our partners with the transparency, precision, and protection they need to succeed,” said Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS. “The 20th edition of the MQR underscores the critical need for proactive media quality strategies to ensure marketers can drive performance while protecting their brands from the evolving and multi-faceted risks in the programmatic advertising landscape.”

Key highlights

Ad fraud rates rise in non-optimised campaigns:

Campaigns lacking pre-bid fraud protection saw fraud rates climb by 19.0% year-over-year, reaching a four-year high of 10.9% by the end of 2024. These non-optimized campaigns recorded fraud levels 15 times higher than those utilizing fraud mitigation strategies. In contrast, campaigns with fraud protection tools saw global fraud rates drop by 9.8% year-over-year, settling at 0.7%.

Offensive language and hate speech increasing:

While the overall global brand risk fell 10.6% from 2023 (a 39% drop since 2021), the share of brand risk linked to offensive language, controversial content, and hate speech reached its highest level since 2020. Offensive content, in particular, rose by 72% year-over-year, signalling an evolving and increasingly complex online risk landscape.

Global viewability rates stabilise:

Following years of consistent growth, global viewability rates in 2024 saw a marginal year-over-year rise of 1.6%. Desktop video viewability, however, reached a record high of 83.9%, reflecting the growing dominance of digital video across media channels. While viewability remains high, marketers are increasingly exploring attention metrics, which measure an ad’s environment and user interactions such as clicks and eye movements, offering better insight into impression effectiveness and brand impact.

APAC and India-specific findings

Ad fraud trends:

In the APAC region, ad fraud trends largely mirrored global patterns. Optimized fraud rates remained stable for desktop display (1.3%) and mobile web video (0.3%). Desktop video fraud fell from 1.1% to 0.8%, while mobile web display increased slightly from 0.4% to 0.5%.

In India, campaigns that employed fraud detection tools reported fraud rates below the global average. Desktop display fraud was recorded at 0.8%, while mobile web display stood at just 0.2%.

Viewability trends:

Desktop video viewability in APAC surged from 69.2% in 2023 to 88.9% in 2024, outperforming the global average of 83.9%. Mobile web video viewability also grew modestly from 81.6% to 83.3%.

In India, viewability rates improved but remained below global averages. Mobile web display viewability rose from 59.1% to 64.8%, while mobile app display climbed from 58.6% to 62%.

Time-in-view performance:

Time-in-view in APAC outperformed both EMEA and the Americas. While mobile app display time dipped from 16.09 seconds in 2023 to 14.06 seconds in 2024, desktop display (20.07 seconds) and mobile web display (15.74 seconds) held steady. India led the APAC region in time-in-view for programmatic buys, with desktop display achieving 25.33 seconds and mobile web display clocking 19.65 seconds.

Brand risk dynamics:

While overall brand risk declined, APAC experienced notable increases in content flagged for violence, offensive language, controversial themes, and hate speech. In particular, violent content in desktop display ads surged from 43.5% in the first half of 2024 to 54.3% in the second half.