BRANDS and businesses advertising on the digital space would need to be more circumspect, and cautious, as a recently-released report revealed that fraudsters seem to be gradually finding a safe haven on the global digital space, of late.
The new report, conducted by Juniper Research Limited, a Research, Forecasting & Consultancy firm, warns that, if not checked, the level of ad spend, likely to be lost on digital space, to fraud, globally, may hit the $68billion mark, before the close of Year 2022; indicating a rise from $59 billion, recorded in 2021.
Interestingly, despite the rising cases of digital fraud in Nigeria, and the feeble ‘immunity’ advertisers in this part of the globe seem to have against such frauds, the country is not among the top five identified as likely to suffer a crushing blow from the activities of these digital fraudsters.
The new study, ‘Digital Advertising Fraud: Key Trends, Competitor Landscape & Market Forecasts 2022-2026’, listed the United States of America (USA), Japan, China, South Korea and United Kingdom as the top five that would be most impacted by the fraud, and which would account for 60% of global losses.
According to the study, brands, businesses and individuals advertising in the US ‘will potentially’ suffer the most in financial loss due to fraudulent activity, with total losses in that country expected to surpass $23billion in 2022.
The study, however, believes this may not be unconnected with the fact that the US represents the largest market for digital advertising spend, with high levels of internet penetration and elevated mobile app and browser usage presenting strong opportunities for the display of promotional content.
“With the US representing such a significant market in terms of advertising spend, campaigns in North America will undoubtedly attract the attention of fraudulent players. This will lead to unprecedented innovation in fraud tactics within the US with advertisers demonstrating a greater requirement for fraud detection and mitigation services,” argued Research author, Scarlett Woodford.
The study however counsels digital advertisers, desirous of doing business on the digital space of any of these five markets to form strategic partnerships with ad fraud detection and prevention vendors, capable of distinguishing between valid and fraudulent advertising traffic that provides no return on ad spend.
“Implications grave for Nigeria’s ad space’- analysts
Reacting to this development, some analysts in the nation’s integrated marketing space have however described the implications of the new report as grave for the nation’s IMC space.
A brand analyst, Segun Ayedogbon, believes advertisers and brands in this part of the globe can not afford to celebrate despite Nigeria not being listed as one of those highly vulnerable countries.
“One thing we must know is that the world has become a global village. Whatever affects one is likely to affect all. If the US, China and UK are listed as some of the countries likely to suffer the heaviest blow, then we in Nigeria can not afford to sleep with our two eyes closed. Remember most businesses, brands and advertisers, have one or two things to do with these countries,” he argued.
Another analyst, Mr. Chidi Onoh, argued that while the situation should be of concern to every brand and individual, playing on the digital field, he would, however want the relevant regulatory authorities, and players in that field to commence the process of tightening ‘the loose ends’, so as to ensure such activities are discouraged here.
“We need to be intentional in that war against internet frauds and fraudsters. We should not take such report lying low. Interestingly, one good thing about it is that it has foretold the danger. So the onus is on us all to do everything humanly possible to avert it,” he stated.
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