外媒Digiday：为何中国市场的广告欺诈是一团乱麻？
广告欺诈是每个国家都存在的问题，但它在中国尤其猖獗。
据eMarketer预测，中国市场的数字营销费用将从2016年的404亿美元增长到2020年的836亿美元。但是，这一增长很可能会因为广告欺诈行为而受限。据广告监测公司AdMaster统计的来自500多家中国广告商的数据表明，在2016年上半年，平均约有28%的数字营销活动的流量不是被自然人看到的，甚至在某些营销活动中，欺诈性流量的数量可能会达到95%。
“没有一个国家不遭遇广告欺诈的困扰，但不幸的是，在中国，这个问题更大。” 移动分析公司AppsFlyer的亚太区副总裁Ronen Mense说。
从机器人作弊，刷广告页面和点击，到充斥着高价关键字、诱导广告搜索的网站，广告欺诈可以有多种表现形式。但在中国，最严重的广告欺诈行为，通常表现为，将广告被放置在诸如色情、暴力等等吸引眼球内容的旁边以增加真实触达率以及曝光。根据广告验证服务公司Adbug的CEO Martin Zhang的观点，或大或小的媒体及在线广告联盟（Ad Network），当他们某些关键性能指标不能达标时，通常会使用这种把戏。一些外国的广告验证公司很难识别那些“不安全的内容”，因为一些类似食品安全和反日情绪等问题是特定到中国国情的，他说。
而Martin Zhang也发现，许多展示广告活动的可视性是小于5%的,大多数中国广告主仍然在只使用广告追踪服务ad tracking，而不是与第三方验证公司合作，评估每个广告点击或展示，因为每个人都想让纸面上的数字更好看。
“在检测广告欺诈行为时，广告追踪技术ad tracking的能力是很有限的。但品牌和媒介代理机构对于与adverification广告验证服务机构一起工作感到害怕，” Martin Zhang说，“问题就在于：你是想回去向总部汇报，你完成了很好的KPI，尽管这些KPI是假的；还是加以验证，表明你以往的所有数字营销活动都是渣？”
Ronen Mense（AppsFlyer亚太区副总裁）也表达了相同的情绪，他表示，虽然在美国有一个成熟的广告验证系统，而在中国，媒体和广告主喜欢直接达成交易，而不加任何验证服务。而且，许多广告追踪adtracking工具同时也是数据管理平台DMP，这就意味着他们可以操纵营销活动的数字。
尤其是移动端，在中国有超过200个应用程序商店，而在美国，只有两个主要的应用程序商店——谷歌和苹果。“中国手机市场更分散，”他说，“那些应用程序商店很容易做到虚假安装。”
但也有乐观的消息。Martin Zhang认为，2017年将成为中国市场品牌安全与可视性最受关注的一年。MMA移动营销协会上周在中国建立了一个品牌安全和可视性标准小组，希望提出应对广告欺诈的相关行业标准和解决方案。最初的20名小组成员包括来自腾讯、宝洁(Procter & Gamble) 的高管，也包括Adbug的Martin Zhang。
“在中国，在媒介代理机构内部有不同的派系在争夺广告预算。有些会讨厌我们，而一些会喜欢我们。”他说。“全球的透明度大潮正在影响着中国市场。对于我们的广告验证业务来说，虽然这个过程艰难，但我们正处在一个新起点。”
文章来源：DIGIDAY
文章作者：Yuyu Chen
原文链接：http://digiday.com/brands/ad-fraud-in-china/
原文如下：
Why ad fraud is a mess in China
Yuyu Chen | January 11, 2017
Ad fraud is an issue in every country, though it is especially rampant in China.
Digital spend in China is predicted by eMarketer to grow from $40.4 billion in 2016 to $83.6 billion in 2020. But the growth may be limited by ad fraud. According to ad firm AdMaster’s stats from more than 500 Chinese advertisers, on average around 28 percent of a digital campaign’s traffic was not seen by a human being during the first half of 2016, and the number of fraudulent traffic could go up to 95 percent for some campaigns.
“There’s no single country immune to ad fraud, but unfortunately it’s a bigger problem in China,” said Ronen Mense, vp of Asia for mobile analytics company AppsFlyer.
Ad fraud can take various forms, from impressions and clicks generated by bots, to fake websites stuffed with the highest-priced keywords to attract search ads. But the most severe ad fraud practice in China occurs when ads are placed around inappropriate content like pornography and violence. Publishers and ad networks — big or small — typically use this trick when they cannot reach certain key performance indicators, according to Marin Zhang, CEO for ad verification service Adbug. Foreign ad verification companies can hardly identify “unsafe content” because some issues like food safety and anti-Japanese sentiment are specific to China, he said.
While Zhang found that many display ads’ viewability is less than 5 percent, most advertisers in China are still using ad tracking instead of working with third-party companies to evaluate each click or impression, because everyone wants to make the numbers look good on the paper.
“Ad tracking is a weak technology in detecting fraud. But brands and agencies feel scared to work with ad-verification services,” said Zhang. “The question is: Do you want to report back to the headquarters with strong KPIs even though they are fake, or verified ones showing that all of your historical campaigns are shit?”
Mense echoed the same sentiment, adding that while there’s a mature ad validation system in the U.S., publishers and advertisers in China like striking direct deals without having any validation services involved. And many ad-tracking tools are data-management platforms as well, meaning that they can manipulate campaign metrics.
When it comes to mobile specifically, there are more than 200 app stores in China while there are just two major app stores — Google and Apple — in the States. “The Chinese mobile market is much more fragmented,” he said. “Those app stores can easily fake installs.”
But there’s optimism. Zhang believes that 2017 will the biggest year for brand safety and viewability in China. Mobile Marketing Association China set up a brand safety and viewability standard group last week, hoping to come up with industry standards and solutions to ad fraud. The initial 20 members include executives from Tencent, Procter & Gamble, and Zhang.
“In China, there are different parties at agencies internally competing for ad budgets. Some hate us, while some like us,” he said. “The global push for transparency influences the Chinese market. It’s a hard process for us to do business, but we are at a starting point.”