The Bot Baseline Fraud in Digital Advertising

BOTS ARE GETTING TARGETED AND RETARGETEDA bot typically visits more websites and consumes more ads than a human. When bots overshoot or miss themark on engagement metrics, they get caught. When bots match the advertiser’s targeted human engagementmetrics, they can avoid detection and increase revenue.Bots consumed 19 percent of retargetedads in the study. Retargeting is the processof delivering ads to particular users based ontheir previous online activity.Web browsers encode tracking data calledcookies that allow advertisers and publishersto track and remember their online visitors.Bot browsers generate their own cookies orbuild cookie profiles designed to make themlook more human and more tempting toadvertisers. Bots emulating engaged humanbehavior have high-value cookies and gettargeted by advertisers, amplifying botnetrevenue potential.Bots can get re-cookied without even trying.In certain advanced botnets, bots accessand use browser cookies generated by thecomputer’s actual human user, making iteven easier for the bot to get picked upby a retargeting campaign.In many cases, re-cookied bots are addedto granular consumer segmentation lists,creating a cycle of baking bots into manyad-tech platform audience models.CASE STUDYRetargeting Bot PrevalenceWas Much Higher Than OverallBot PercentageOverall campaign traffic for one participant contained17 percent bots. In contrast, the participant’s retargetedcampaigns were composed of 55 percent bots.17%BotsParticipant’sOverallTraffic19%BotsParticipant’sOverallTraffic55%BotsParticipant’sRetargetedCampaignsSimilarly, campaign traffic for another participant contained19 percent bots. This participant’s retargeted campaignswere composed of 27 percent bots.27%BotsParticipant’sRetargetedCampaigns31