Lunio Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024 V2

Wasted
Ad Spend
Report 2024
The Global Impact of Invalid Traffic
Table of Contents
The Paid Media Traffic Quality Survey

3. Introduction 32. The Business Impact of Invalid Traffic
4. Methodology 33. Working with Smaller Budgets in 2023
6. Executive Summary 34. Are Ad Networks Combatting Invalid Traffic?
13. Invalid Traffic by Channel 35. Claiming Refunds for Invalid Traffic
36. Using Third-Party Invalid Traffic Prevention Solutions
Analysis by Channel Manually Blocking Invalid Traffic
37.
14. LinkedIn
Improving Targeting with Audience Exclusions
38.
15. Google Video Partners
Fake Lead Submissions from Paid Media Campaigns
39.
16. X (Formerly Twitter)
Top 3 Performance Marketing Concerns in 2023
40.
17. Meta
18. Pinterest
19. TikTok IAS - The Role of Viewability in Reducing Wasted Spend
20. Microsoft Ads / Bing 43. How Does Viewability Complement Click Data?
21. Google Display Network 44. Where Does the IAS Data Come From?
22. Performance Max 45. Overall Trends in Viewability Rates
23. Google Search (inc. Shopping) 47. Overall Trends for Time-in-View
24. YouTube
Scope 3 - The Environment Impact of Digital Advertising & Invalid Traffic

25. Invalid Traffic by Company Size
51. Where Does the Scope3 Data Come From?
26. Invalid Traffic by Industry
52. Overall State of Digital Advertising Carbon Emissions
27. Industry Analysis
52. Emission at the Per-Impression Basis
29. Invalid Traffic by Region
53. Climate Emissions in Programmatic & Display
54. Defunding Climate Risk Inventory
54. Viewability & Carbon Emissions
55. Identifying Waste Within Programmatic Supply Chains
56. Carbon Emissions Per-Click
57. Calculating Carbon Wasted on IVT
59. Conclusion
60. About
2 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2023

Introduction
What is Invalid Traffic? How Does Invalid Traffic Impact Businesses?
Invalid traffic (IVT) refers to any website visits that Invalid traffic isn’t a security problem. It’s a marketing black hole. Integral Ad Science specialise in protecting programmatic
don’t come from a real person with genuine interest. media buying, and their data enabled us to dive even deeper
It can include bots (both good and bad), fake users, It instantly wastes budget - because those “visitors” will never into global paid traffic trends affecting advertisers. And
misattributed accidental clicks, malicious clicks from convert. And the financial costs continue to stack up when you data provided by Scope3, the world’s largest database of
competing advertisers, and otherwise invalid visitors that consider lost revenue opportunities. The return on ad spend for georeferenced emissions factors, allowed us to gain a unique
have zero chance of converting to customers. invalid clicks is always 0:1, which further stifles business growth. understanding of the environmental impact of invalid traffic and
the digital advertising industry more broadly.
The current era of automation and artificial intelligence means IVT also distorts analytics, leading to unwise budget allocation.
bot activity is becoming more prevalent and sophisticated. The Spam leads, which often follow on from fake clicks, contaminate Our aim is to provide a data-driven picture of the threat posed
2023 Imperva Bad Bot Report found that in 2022, nearly half CRMs, wasting the time and energy of sales teams. Projected by invalid traffic, and empower marketers with insights on how
(47.4%) of all internet traffic came from bots, a 5.1% increase over revenue forecasts become unpredictable. And the explosion of to maximise ad spend efficiency, eliminate sources of fake ad
the previous year. advertising automation is only making the problem worse. engagement, and reduce their carbon footprints.
While there is an abundance of invalid activity on the internet, To help unpack the issue and the impact it has on businesses,
not all of it has the same level of impact on businesses. In this we’ve put together our first annual report titled: Wasted Ad
report, we specifically hone in on the proportion of IVT that Spend Report 2024: The Global Impact of Invalid Traffic
has a direct detrimental effect on marketing performance and
business revenue. Namely, invalid traffic stemming from paid By analysing billions of paid ad clicks from thousands of
media campaigns. Lunio customers, we’ve exposed the true extent of the invalid
traffic problem across different industries, regions, advertising
channels, and more.
In addition to our own data, we’ve also partnered with Integral

Ad Science and Scope3 to give a more complete overview of the
problem and its downstream consequences.

Methodology
Lunio’s real-time decision engine analyses the validity Our breakdown of invalid traffic rates across individual ad
of millions of paid ad clicks per day across all major channels was limited to those with a sample size of clicks
marketing channels including Google, Meta, Bing, statistically significant enough to draw meaningful conclusions
LinkedIn, TikTok, and more. from. This includes Google Search (inc. Shopping), Performance
Max, Google Display, YouTube, Google Video Partners, Bing, Meta,
Traffic determined to be invalid is instantly excluded X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, and Pinterest.
on the channel it’s detected on. Data identifying the
source of the invalid click is then used to populate cross- In our channel analysis we combined invalid traffic rates with
channel exclusion audiences to prevent it from negatively external data on ad revenue earnings to provide benchmarks for
impacting customers elsewhere. projected wasted ad spend and lost revenue opportunities.
Our inaugural Wasted Ad Spend report was conducted For our breakdown of invalid traffic rates by industry, company
over a 12-month period from May 2022 to May 2023, size, and region we segmented Lunio’s customer database
analysing a total of 2.6 billion paid ad clicks and an accordingly and established an overall invalid traffic rate for
estimated 104 billion impressions from more than 60,000 each individual category included in the report.
ad accounts.
We supplemented Lunio click data with results from a survey
We segmented the data by channel, industry, company size, and of hundreds of performance marketers conducted in June
region to provide actionable insights for marketers seeking to 2023. Respondents were invited to take part via a call-out sent
minimise wasted spend and maximise campaign efficiency. to Lunio’s mailing list. The results of the eight questions in the
survey are analysed in full and provide further insight into the
Invalid traffic rates are presented as percentages and represent business impact of invalid traffic for brands and marketers alike.
the number of invalid clicks divided by the total number of clicks in
the sample taken for each category.

Methodology
Foreword From the CEO

To give a complete picture of the current state of wasted To help understand the environmental impact associated
ad spend, Lunio partnered with Integral Ad Science (IAS), with invalid traffic, Lunio partnered with Scope3, who
Our mission at Lunio is to maximise the efficiency of the
who specialise in programmatic ad verification at an specialise in measuring digital advertising industry
digital advertising space through innovative software
impression level i.e. they ensure display ads are seen by emissions and offer solutions to help brands and marketers
solutions. By enabling the era of exclusion for marketers,
real people, in brand-safe and contextually relevant digital reduce their carbon footprint.
Lunio helps to accelerate advertising efficiency by
environments.
excluding budget waste on invalid, fake and fraudulent
The Scope3 data presented in this report originates from
traffic across walled garden and performance marketing
The combination of Lunio and IAS data provides unrivalled their Q1 and Q2 2023 State of Sustainable Advertising
networks.
insight into invalid activity and marketing inefficiencies at reports. Full details on the methodology Scope3 used are
both the click and impression level across programmatic, available in the original reports.
Our inaugural Wasted Ad Spend report provides the
open web, paid search, and paid social.
most complete and accurate view of inefficiencies that
currently exist in the digital advertising landscape. This
The IAS data presented in this report originates from the
report will empower marketers to increase advertising
18th edition of their Media Quality Report, first published
performance while reducing wasted spend, irrelevant
in May 2023. Full details on the methodology IAS used are
reach and the carbon impact of their campaigns.
available in the original report.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our

customers and partners for your support, feedback, and
collaboration throughout our journey so far. Together,
The ultimate goal of this report is to help advertisers understand the current state of we can build a healthier digital advertising ecosystem
invalid traffic, what can be done to mitigate against it, and show how a focus on ad spend in which every click, impression and placement drives
efficiency can help drive greater campaign performance across every channel. genuine value for brands and consumers alike.
Neil Andrew, Co-Founder & CEO at Lunio

Executive Summary
We evaluated a sample of more than 2.6 billion paid ad clicks from Lunio Google vs Non-Google Channels
customers over the course of 12 months (May 2022 - May 2023).
This data set revealed: When the 2.6 billion clicks were segmented by Google vs non-Google channels it revealed a
significant difference - IVT rates were much lower on Google channels.
8.5% of all paid traffic was invalid.
Total Paid 5.5% of traffic coming from Google channels

Traffic was invalid.
8.5%
Invalid Traffic This includes Search (inc Shopping), PMax, Display, & YouTube campaigns
17.5% of traffic coming from non-Google

This means: channels wasinvalid.
1 in every 11.7 paid traffic website visits were invalid. This includes Meta, Bing, LinkedIn, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Pinterest

Executive Summary
Forecasting Wasted Ad Spend
To provide a benchmark estimate of what these average invalid traffic rates across Google and Non-Google platforms translate to in
terms of wasted ad spend, we looked to 2022 ad revenue earnings reports, as well as forecasted revenue projections for 2024.
Google Non-Google Channels
In 2022, Google’s ad revenue amounted to $224.47 billion. In 2022, global social media ad spend stood at approximately $230 billion. In addition,
Bing generated $11.59 billion in 2022.
When we apply an IVT rate of 5.5% averaged across all Google channels, this equates to:
Therefore $241.59 billion represents an estimate of total ad spend on Non-Google
$12.35 billion wasted on Google in 2022. channels.
In 2024, Google’s ad revenue is forecasted to amount to $301.59 billion, an increase of

34.35% VS When we apply an IVT rate of 17.5% averaged across all Non-Google channels, this
equates to:
When we again apply an IVT rate of 5.5%, this equates to: $42.28 billion wasted on Non-Google channels in 2022.
$16.59 billion forecasted to be wasted on Google in 2024. In 2024, global social media spend is projected to surpass the $300 billion dollar mark for
the first time. In the same year, Bing is expected to generate $13 billion in ad revenue.
When we again apply an IVT rate of 17.5%, this equates to:
$54.78 billion forecasted to be wasted on Non-Google

channels in 2024.
$71.37 Billion in Ad Spend is
Forecasted to Be Lost to
IVT in 2024.

Executive Summary
Total Wasted Ad Spend Growing IVT is Stifling Digital Revenue Growth
Based on the previous estimates: A study conducted by leading data company Nielsen revealed
that the average return on ad spend across all industries is 2.87:1.
$54.63 billion in ad spend was lost to IVT in 2022. When applied the wasted ad spend forecast for 2024 this equates
to:
$71.37 billion in ad spend forecasted to be lost to IVT in 2024.
$204.83bn in lost revenue opportunity for
$75b brands and advertisers in 2024.
$70b
$72.37b
$60b
$54.63b
$50b
2022 2024
This represents a 33.1% increase in wasted ad spend between 2022 and 2024.

$204.83 Billion Will Be Lost
In Revenue Opportunity
Due to IVT for Brands and
Advertisers in 2024.
Executive Summary
Analysis - Google Channels
There are many factors contributing to Google’s unrivalled Google’s proactive stance puts them well ahead of most other ad
success in digital advertising. But our data suggests advertisers networks when it comes to IVT protection. But despite their efforts
are getting better returns on ad spend via Google at least in part to remove “as much invalid and fraudulent activity as possible”,
due to the company’s better in-built protections and policies they haven’t been able to completely eliminate the problem, or
against IVT. reduce it to negligible levels (<1%).
According to Google’s documentation (1) (2): More sophisticated invalid activity continues to bypass their
prevention methods. An average invalid traffic rate of 5.5% across
“Our dedicated Ad Traffic Quality Team uses live reviewers, Google channels has significant financial implications for all
automatic filters, machine learning, and deep research to detect advertisers. But larger enterprise brands spending $1m+ per
and filter as much invalid and fraudulent activity as possible.” (1) month on Google Ads are the most affected.
“When our filters identify suspicious traffic but can’t be sure it’s
invalid, our automated systems flag the anomalies and gather
data for days to weeks. Then our team of live reviewers can
analyze the data and decide what to do.
“When we find something wrong, we try to make it right as soon

as possible… When appropriate and possible, that money is
credited back to the advertisers — not only for the month where
we found the invalid activity, but often for the previous month, as
well.” (2)

Executive Summary
Analysis - Non-Google Channels
Advertisers investing heavily in non-Google channels without for invalid engagement. For example, Story ads on Meta can have • IVT protection & third-party verification: Higher invalid traffic
protection against invalid traffic experience significant ad spend multiple interactive elements such as polls, making them more rates mean advertisers stand to gain even more value from IVT
losses and reduced profitability. vulnerable to bot interactions. prevention solutions like Lunio and third-party verification tools
such as IAS. These tools can provide additional traffic quality
IVT rates vary significantly across non-Google channels (explored Higher average invalid traffic rates have several implications for insights and help identify which campaigns are most affected.
in more granular detail in the following sections). But across the brands investing heavily in non-Google channels:
board, it’s clear their in-built protections and policies are less
effective. Non-Google channels don’t have the same level of • Higher proportions of wasted ad spend: This can negatively
resources or expertise dedicated to IVT prevention, making them impact their ROI and overall campaign effectiveness. While non-Google channels might have higher invalid
more vulnerable. traffic rates, they still offer valuable opportunities for brand
• Skewed analytics: Advertisers should be mindful of the influence visibility and engagement. Therefore, they can’t simply
But there are other factors underpinning the difference. Google- of invalid traffic when assessing campaign performance metrics be avoided altogether, or scaled back to minimal levels of
owned channels, particularly Google Search (which accounts provided by non-Google channels. They should pay closer investment.
for 58.1% of Google’s revenue), cater to users with high intent that attention to conversion volume and actual revenue generated
are actively searching for specific information. This intent-driven to provide a more accurate picture of the effectiveness of these Ideally, brands should adopt a diversified marketing mix
behaviour results in more genuine clicks and interactions. In channels. that includes both demand capture (e.g. Google Search)
contrast, non-Google channels like social media platforms have and demand generation (e.g. social brand awareness
lower user intent and higher potential for accidental clicks and • Audience targeting: Higher rates of invalid traffic make it more campaigns), but with a strategic approach to mitigate
fraudulent interactions. important to focus on precise audience targeting, primarily wasted ad spend due to invalid traffic.
through exclusions. For example on LinkedIn, invalid traffic can be
In addition, non-Google channels tend to offer more complex ad reduced by excluding certain locations, and specific job titles.
formats than Google channels. Generally speaking, the greater
the complexity of the ad format, the more opportunities there are

Invalid Traffic by Channel
Despite the differences between Google and non-Google

channels, our data shows invalid traffic is a prevalent issue YouTube 3.93%
affecting all digital marketing channels.
Google Search
(inc. Shopping)
4.72%
The built-in protection tools put in place by search engines, ad
networks, and social media platforms still allow a significant volume PMax 5.96%
of invalid traffic to “slip through the net”.
Google Display 7.32%
But there are notable differences in invalid traffic rates across
Microsoft Ads
individual channels. / Bing 8.46%
Channel
We’ve broken down our findings for each channel in the chart TikTok 9.19%
opposite, ranging from highest IVT rates to lowest, with detailed
analysis of the data in the following pages. Pinterest 14.00%
Meta 17.52%
As stated in the methodology section, we’ve only included
channels in our report with a sample size that is statistically X
(formerly Twitter) 23.61%
significant enough to draw meaningful conclusions from.
Google Video
Partners 24.55%
LinkedIn 24.64%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Invalid Traffic Rate

Analysis by Channel
LinkedIn: 24.64%
LinkedIn came out as the worst-performing ad channel in terms LinkedIn has previously acknowledged they have a problem with
of IVT. And our report certainly isn’t the first to call into question bots. Their 2022 Transparency Report states they remove 96%
the authenticity of the platform’s user base. of fake accounts using automated defences. In the second half
of 2021, they removed 11.9 million fake accounts at registration
A 2022 investigation conducted by NPR found an abundance of and another 4.4 million before they were ever reported by other
fake profiles on the platform with AI-generated profile photos users. But more sophisticated bots are clearly still able to evade
used for marketing purposes. The majority of these fake profiles detection by better mimicking real human behaviour, which
were created to drum up sales for companies big and small. includes engaging with ads.
By using fake profiles, companies can cast a wide net online The average cost-per-click on LinkedIn can range between $10-
without beefing up their own sales staff or hitting LinkedIn’s limits $50. This is much higher than the average Meta benchmark,
on messages. Demand for online sales leads exploded during which sits at around $5 for B2B brands. As a result, financial
the pandemic as it became hard for sales teams to pitch their losses due to fake ad engagement add up far quicker on
products in person. And this level of demand has persisted in the LinkedIn compared to other channels.
post-pandemic era.
In short, marketers are highly unlikely to get the performance
In addition to fake sales profiles, scrapers and engagement bots they’d expect out of LinkedIn campaigns without an IVT
also contribute to the high levels of invalid activity on LinkedIn. prevention system in place.
Scrapers take all available information from profiles including
name, job, company, education, contact data (including email
addresses), and more. Engagement bots are typically used to An IVT rate of 24.64% applied to LinkedIn’s
perform actions like connecting with users, liking posts, leaving 2024 ad revenue forecast of $5.8 billion equates
comments, and other spammy activities in an effort to promote to $1.43 billion in wasted spend.
products and services.

Analysis by Channel
Google Video Partners: 24.55%
In June 2023, the findings of a study reported by the Wall Street It’s worth noting that other third-parties, including IAS, have also
Journal revealed about 80% of Google’s video-ad placements disputed the results of this study, in particular the 80% figure
on third-party sites, through its Google Video Partners program, cited. Our data certainly lends credence to these criticisms. While
violated promised standards. there’s no doubt an issue with invalid impressions and clicks
across GVP, the rate isn’t anywhere near 80%. That said, one in
Google claims these third-party sites provide the same ad four clicks being detected as invalid still poses a major issue for
experience as YouTube, with audio-enabled, fully visible ads that advertisers.
can be skipped. But the study found ads on these partner sites
are muted 80% of the time, autoplay off to the side of the screen, Disputes over the validity of the study aside, advertisers have the
and cannot be skipped. choice to opt out of GVP anytime. However, our findings indicate
that with strong viewability and fraud prevention technology
Our data indicates these third-party sites also have a significant overlaid on GVP campaigns, there are still significant advantages
IVT problem, with almost one in four ad clicks being fake. This to be gained in terms of additional reach and exposure.
suggests some publishers are intentionally inflating impression
and click numbers with bot traffic to increase their own ad
revenue.
Google disputes the claims, stating the report used “unreliable

sampling and proxy methodologies”. They stated the
“overwhelming majority” of video ad campaigns run on
YouTube, and that GVP is a small, separate network used to help
advertisers reach additional audiences and increase campaign
reach by over 20%.

Analysis by Channel
X (Formerly Twitter): 23.61%
X’s bot problem is infamous thanks to the legal disputes prior Newly-appointed CEO Linda Yaccarino has stated further efforts
to Elon Musk’s takeover in October 2022. Despite efforts to cut to ensure the authenticity of X’s user base are central to her
costs, clean up the platform, and verify users, our data shows plans for the creation of “Twitter 2.0” - a version of the company
23.61% of paid ad traffic coming from X is invalid. that aims to be “the world’s most accurate real-time information
source and a global town square for communication.”
The ease of account creation makes it easier for the automated
proliferation of fake users. There’s also a high prevalence of It remains to be seen whether these future efforts will be
scrapers on X, designed to ingest all forms of publicly available successful, both in tackling the bot problem and convincing
data on the platform, often for the purpose of training new AI major players in the digital advertising world to return to the
models. platform.
Lastly, bad actors routinely use bots in an attempt to manipulate

political and social discourse on X - a problem which will get An IVT rate of 23.61% applied to X’s 2024
much worse with the advent of large language models like ad revenue forecast of $3 billion equates
ChatGPT. to $708 million in wasted spend.
Failing to fix the bot problem paired with changes to content

moderation rules which significantly increase brand risk has
caused advertisers to abandon the platform in droves. As
reported by the BBC, X has lost almost half of its advertising
revenue since it was bought by Musk.

Analysis by Channel
Meta: 17.52%
Unlike X, many advertisers invest heavily in Meta. Its 2022 ad Responding to the controversy, a spokesperson for Meta reported
revenue of $113.6 billion is second only to Google (albeit by a that the company blocks millions of spam accounts every
considerable margin). So the fact that Meta has an average IVT day. “We continue to invest in anti-spam technology, and in
rate of 17.52% presents a much bigger cause for concern for most our safety and security team of over 40,000 people, who are
brands. focused on keeping spam and other types of harmful content
off our platforms,”
The prevalence of bots and fake user activity on Meta are
plainly visible in the comments section of virtually any post with However, our data indicates these efforts are failing to drive
high engagement rates. Friend requests and follows from fake down levels of bot-driven invalid traffic stemming from paid ads
accounts are also common. on Meta. Advertisers who invest heavily in the platform without
any IVT prevention system in place are exposing themselves to
Earlier this year, many Instagram users with public profiles a considerable degree of ad spend inefficiency - to the tune of
reported their stories were being consistently viewed and almost $24 billion in wasted spend throughout 2024.
reacted to by bot accounts promoting adult content,
with suspicious usernames such as: lindsay38302h.li or
emmahart283204r. An IVT rate of 17.52% applied to Meta’s 2024
ad revenue forecast of $134.72 billion equates
The existence of these accounts isn’t new. As mentioned, bots on to $23.6 billion in wasted spend.
Instagram have spammed the comments of posts for years. But
the sheer scale of this new form of bot activity targeting stories
was particularly pronounced. Meta have since clamped down on
the problem, and it now occurs with noticeably less frequency.
X: @fkabiriyani

Analysis by Channel
Pinterest: 14.00%
Pinterest is a highly-visual platform, which makes it relatively

easy for automated bots to mimic user behaviour and engage
with ads without genuine interest.
Many users still use Pinterest as a platform to promote products

and earn commissions through affiliate links. While most
affiliates adhere to ethical practices, some may resort to
spammy tactics to drive traffic to their affiliate links, resulting in
an increase in invalid traffic.
Another factor is the feature of pin repinning and group boards.

The ability to repin content allows it to spread rapidly across the
platform, reaching a wider audience. Unfortunately, this includes
the potential of reaching bot accounts, which can artificially
inflate engagement metrics and generate invalid traffic.
The apparent absence of a robust invalid traffic detection

mechanism allows fake engagement to go unnoticed.
An IVT rate of 14.00% applied to Pinterest’s

2024 ad revenue forecast of $3.32 billion
equates to $465 million in wasted spend.

Analysis by Channel
TikTok: 9.19%
TikTok repeatedly hit headlines in 2023. But the focus was on This negative attitude towards TikTok is attested to in the results
An IVT rate of 9.19% applied to TikTok’s
national security rather than ad fraud. In March, the platform’s of this 2020 Twitter / X poll presented in the bottom right of this
2024 ad revenue forecast of $17.2 billion
CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before congress in the US to slide. (Based on our findings we can assume up to a quarter of
equates to $1.58 billion in wasted spend.
respond to concerns about potential Chinese influence over the the 494 respondents are bots. But invalid votes aside, the results
platform and allegations that its short videos were damaging are still clear.)
children’s mental health.
Since then TikTok has ramped up investment in bot detection
Leaving aside the concerns raised during the congressional and ad fraud mitigation. In 2022, the Trustworthy Accountability
hearing, TikTok has fared relatively well in our findings. While it Group (TAG) confirmed the platform achieved TAG Certified
may come as a surprise to some, its average IVT rate of 9.19% Against Fraud status.
make it the best performing social media platform included in
our report - albeit with over $1.5 billion in estimated annual losses And TikTok’s efforts in this area appear to be paying off.
to invalid traffic in 2024. Advertiser’s confidence in the effectiveness and profitability of
the platform is clearly growing.
In earlier years, TikTok was plagued by allegations of artificially
inflated view, like, and follower counts. For example, a 2020 article A spokesperson for TikTok said: “Understanding that spam and
published by Vice revealed they were able to generate 25,000 fraud are evolving industry-wide threats, TikTok will continue
fake views and 1,000 fake likes just hours after uploading a video investing in solutions to strengthen our security infrastructure
to a brand new channel, by paying $50 to a website promising to and stay ahead of these challenges.”
drive up engagement rates.
Our findings indicate that the policies and security protocols
Of course, paying for fake engagement is a problem common put in place by TikTok have been much more effective than
to all social media platforms, not just TikTok. But the problem those put in place by Meta. But they haven’t eliminated the
was publicised much more on TikTok, leading to a shift in how problem completely. Advertisers who are considering scaling
consumers perceived the platform. their investment stand to gain a competitive advantage by
proactively protecting their campaigns against invalid traffic.

Analysis by Channel
Microsoft Ads / Bing: 8.46%
Google has long dominated the search engine market, with a Technologically speaking, Microsoft Ads often lags two to three
significantly larger userbase than Bing. However Bing’s share years behind Google Ads in most areas. One clear example of this
of the desktop search market grew by 26.8% from 2019 to 2021, is Microsoft’s beta launch of their own fully automated campaign
increasing from 4.85% to 6.15%. type in July 2023, which also happens to be called Performance
Max (coincidence?). This comes a full three years after Google’s
Furthermore, Bing’s integration with ChatGPT in February 2023 hit Performance Max was first made available in beta.
the headlines, leading to the addition of more than a million new
preview users and helping the channel reach the key milestone Given this trend, Microsoft’s continued investment in IVT detection
of 100 million daily active users. Given this, more and more will no doubt drive rates down further. But they will always lag
advertisers are beginning to increase their investment in Microsoft behind Search market leaders, Google.
Ads, with many seeing promising returns.
Bing has a lower cost-per-click (CPC) than Google Search, which An IVT rate of 8.46% applied to Bing’s 2024
means advertisers can drive more conversions with their budget. ad revenue forecast of $13 billion equates
And for many, this translates into a higher Return on Ad Spend to $1.1 billion in wasted spend.
(ROAS). But with an average IVT rate almost double that observed
on Google Search (4.72%), brands must take into account more of
their ad spend will be wasted through Bing campaigns.
Bing’s IVT prevention systems have performed relatively well,

but their technology is less advanced than Google’s. As a result,
higher proportions of more sophisticated bot activity are able to
go undetected. However, we expect significant improvements over
the coming years.

Analysis by Channel
Google Display Network: 7.32%
Google’s Display Network (GDN) has an average invalid traffic Click fraud is a major contributing factor to the relatively high Lastly, it’s worth noting that Lunio only evaluates invalid clicks,
rate of 7.32%, making it the second worst-performing Google levels of invalid traffic on GDN. Some of the sites within the not invalid impressions. So the true extent of invalid activity
channel after Google Video Partners. Display Network are intentionally created by bad actors for the and wasted ad spend on GDN is likely much higher, as many
purposes of defrauding advertisers. Brands end up paying to campaigns are charged on a CPM basis rather than a per-click
Whilst overall GDN invalid traffic rates are lower than some other have their ads appear on these sites, whose only visitors are bots basis.
channels, the spread of IVT is much more sporadic. In the past that generate fake clicks. The fraudster then collects revenue for
year, Lunio has audited multiple GDN campaigns with >99% IVT sending invalid traffic through to the advertisers’ website. Advertisers investing heavily ($100k+ per month) in display
rates, and others with single percentage point IVT rates. campaigns should use DV360 paired with a viewability solution
The barrier to entry for creating fake websites that are eligible like IAS to filter out non-viewable and invalid impressions. This
Much of the exposure to IVT depends on the specific placements for Google Display placements via AdSense is very low. For this results in much higher ad spend efficiency when compared
within GDN (e.g. leveraging high-quality websites vs low-quality reason it’s one of the most common forms of ad fraud. against a standard GDN campaign.
content farms, preventing exposure to in-app ads etc), which
is why we’ve created our free GDN exclusion list to remove the Some unethical publishers may engage in deceptive practices
worst offenders: such as pixel stuffing and ad stacking to further increase the
levels of fake ad engagement. Pixel stuffing involves using 1×1
Download Lunio’s 100K Display Placement Exclusion List pixel ads that are pretty much invisible to humans, but the
advertiser is still charged for the “impressions”. Similarly, ad
stacking works by “stacking” lots of ads on top of each other.
Only the ad at the very front is visible, yet scammers claim credit
for all of them.
• 65,000+ Website Exclusions
• 16,000+ YouTube Channels While Google takes measures to detect and prevent invalid
traffic across the network, it’s a constant battle as fraudsters
• 30,000+ Mobile App Placements
continuously develop new tactics to bypass detection
mechanisms.
Analysis by Channel
Performance Max: 5.96%
Performance Max (PMax) allows advertisers to run ads across Since so much of the activity within PMax campaigns is Should You Stick With PMax?
the entire Google Network from a single campaign. That includes algorithmically-driven, it can inadvertently lead to an increase
Search, Shopping, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Discovery, and Display. in fake user engagement. Fake and invalid clicks are generally If the script reveals 95%+ of your budget is being spent on one
Since Google deprecated Smart Shopping campaigns in Q3 cheaper than legitimate ones. This can create a negative particular placement type (e.g. Search or Shopping), PMax may
2022, PMax adoption rates and overall ad spend have continued feedback loop whereby PMax continues to seek out more and not be the right option.
to rise. Many retailers and agencies are seeing promising results more junk conversions which never translate into revenue, simply
which continue to improve over time. because the acquisition costs are lower. In those instances, it often makes sense to revert back dedicated
Search, Shopping, and Dynamic Remarketing campaigns for
However, the increased simplicity and convenience of PMax PMax campaign analytics don’t allow advertisers to see eCommerce, or a granular Search campaign structure for lead
campaigns come at a cost. Our findings show advertisers how their budget is being split across channels. But a script generation. Doing so reduces exposure to IVT and gives much
are exposed to higher average rates of invalid traffic when developed by Mike Rhodes from AgencySavvy creates graphs more control over ad spend.
compared to standard Shopping campaigns. The 1.24% increase and tables that visualise PMax spend across Shopping, Video,
in IVT rate stems from a reduced ability to control audience Display, and Search. To learn more about Performance Max and get lots more tips
targeting, and a lack of control over ad types. from Miles and other PPC experts, check out our dedicated guide:
Google Ads Expert and Founder of PPC Mastery Miles McNair has
Since PMax forces the use of Display ads, it results in a higher used the script with many of his clients and documented the The Expert Guide to Performance Max
volume of invalid clicks compared to standard Shopping. In results:
addition, the traditional granular audience targeting options
found in Search and Shopping campaigns have also been
replaced with “Audience Signals”, which act as mere suggestions
“I don’t see many well-balanced PMax
to the algorithm, helping to nudge campaigns in the right
campaigns. It’s rare that you’d have
direction. This is not the traditional form of targeting that
70% of your budget going on Search
advertisers are used to.
and Shopping with the other 30% going
towards upper funnel networks to fill in
gaps. Spend mostly skews very heavily
(90%+) towards Search and Shopping.”
Analysis by Channel
Google Search (inc. Shopping): 4.72%
Search-based ads account for more than half ($162.4 billion) In addition, paid search ads have a straightforward format
of Google’s total ad revenue ($224.5). And year-on-year trends consisting of headlines, descriptions, and link URLs. This reduces
show considerable growth, as advertisers continue to increase the opportunities for bots to interact with the ads in a way that
their investment in this channel. Viewed through the lens of invalid could generate invalid traffic, especially when compared to
traffic, this uptick in spend is unsurprising. more complex ad formats found in Display campaigns or paid
social.
Our findings suggests the higher returns and profitability typically
generated through Google search campaigns are at least partly It’s worth noting most retailers have now migrated their smart
due to lower levels of invalid traffic. Less ad spend is wasted, Shopping campaigns to Performance Max. For many, this has
which ultimately translates into more conversions and sales. likely resulted in an increase in wasted ad spend, given PMax’s
IVT rate is 26.2% higher relative to standard Shopping campaigns
This is testament to the effectiveness of the preventative (an absolute increase of 1.24 percentage points). This has
measures Google has put in place. As outlined in the executive significant financial implications for all retailers and eCommerce
summary of this report, Google’s Ad Traffic Quality Team uses businesses.
automatic filters, machine learning, deep research, and live
reviewers to detect and filter as much invalid activity as possible. As Google continues to encourage adoption and increased
spend on Performance Max, brands should forecast the impact
While this multifaceted detection and prevention system is largely of rise in invalid traffic and take appropriate steps to mitigate it.
responsible for bringing the average IVT rate below 5%, there are
a few other contributing factors. Firstly, the intent-driven nature
of paid search means ads are only shown to people who are An IVT rate of 4.72% applied to Google’s
actively looking for particular products or services. This reduces 2024 search ad revenue forecast of
the chances of fraudulent or accidental clicks, and increases the $187 billion equates to $8.81 billion in wasted spend.
volume of legitimate website traffic with genuine purchase intent.

Analysis by Channel
YouTube Video: 3.93%
In stark contrast to the poor performance of Google’s Video In-built protections aside, it’s worth noting that in June 2023, Brands running YouTube video ads solely through Performance
Partner network, native YouTube video campaigns have the lowest YouTube took definitive action against ad blockers, which has Max should take appropriate steps to mitigate against a
average rates of invalid traffic. This is due to several factors. implications for IVT rates. Users in certain regions have now significant rise in invalid traffic based on our findings.
started to see the following message appear:
In order to maintain the trust of advertisers, Google has made
substantial investments in protecting against viewbotting on YouTube told TechCrunch this warning sign is part of an An IVT rate of 3.93% applied to YouTube’s
YouTube (the use of automated scripts or bots to artificially inflate experiment. With YouTube set to roll out this policy worldwide over 2024 ad revenue forecast of $33.5 billion
video view counts). This not only significantly reduces the number the coming months, we expect a significant rise in IVT rates. The equates to $1.32 billion in wasted spend.
of fake impressions, it also prevents more sophisticated viewbots number of accidental clicks from genuine users will increase as
clicking through on ads in an attempt to mimic human behaviour. more people are shown ads. And the number of bot clicks will
increase too. Previously those scraping content from YouTube
YouTube’s platform structure and mechanisms for video delivery videos (e.g. for training AI models on natural language) would
also make it more challenging for scraper bots to interact with simply use an adblocker.
ads compared to traditional web pages. Since ads on YouTube
are delivered algorithmically based on the user’s profile data, bots Lastly, similar to Standard Shopping campaigns, YouTube videos
are unable to search for specific types of ad content to scrape the ads have been rolled into Performance Max. Advertisers who have
results. migrated their YouTube video campaigns to PMax will no doubt
benefit from greater convenience and simplicity i.e. they don’t
For fraudsters, the complexity of YouTube’s monetisation system need to set up and manage a separate campaign to deliver
makes it a less attractive target. YouTube requires consistent, ads on YouTube. But this comes at a cost, in the form of a 51.65%
sustained engagement in the form of watch time, comments, and relative increase in invalid traffic (an absolute increase of 2.03
other interactions for creators to benefit financially. This presents percentage points).
a significant hurdle to fraudsters seeking quick financial gains,
especially when compared to other platforms where engagement
metrics are easier to manipulate.

Invalid Traffic by Company Size
Larger businesses with 10,000+ employees experience significantly higher rates of invalid traffic than Despite the notable difference between large enterprises and smaller businesses, the data clearly
all other company sizes in the analysis, at 17.58% on average. This indicates they are significantly shows invalid traffic is a problem for all companies, regardless of size. For larger companies, the
more susceptible to the financial impact of invalid clicks. They’re also more likely to be affected by the higher average rates of invalid traffic call for more stringent monitoring and prevention methods.
downstream effects of invalid traffic such as skewed analysis and fake lead submissions.
On the other hand, smaller companies should not overlook the potential to significantly improve their
Larger businesses tend to allocate a significant proportion of their advertising budgets towards performance marketing efficiency by blocking invalid traffic and protecting up to 10% of their budget.
campaigns with broader targeting to prioritise reach and brand recall, which drives up their average A small increase in spend efficiency can translate into a significant advantage when competing
rates of invalid traffic across both Google and non-Google channels. against other SMBs with limited advertising budgets.
On the other hand, small to mid-sized businesses seem to fare better in comparison. Companies 17.58%
with 1 to 10 employees have an invalid traffic rate of 8.3%, followed by 11 to 50 employee businesses at Average IVT Rate
6.85%. This trend indicates smaller organisations are using more specific, localised targeting with lower 10,000+ Employees
potential for wide-scale invalid traffic. Narrower targeting helps keep advertising costs down, and this
inadvertently reduces IVT exposure.
Furthermore, low IVT rates among small businesses casts doubt over the prevalence of “competitor 12.62%
Average IVT Rate
11.98%
click fraud”, whereby local businesses deliberately attack their competitors’ PPC campaigns to waste
Average IVT Rate
budgets. This was long thought by many to be rife among the 1 - 10 and 11 - 50 employee brackets 501 - 1,000 Employees
1,001 - 10,000 Employees
however, our data shows it doesn’t pose a meaningful threat in reality.
10.54% 9.72%
Average IVT Rate
8.30% 6.85%
Average IVT Rate
51 - 200 Employees
Average IVT Rate 201 - 500 Employees
Average IVT Rate
1 - 10 Employees
11- 50 Employees
Invalid Traffic by Industry
Invalid traffic is a pervasive problem that affects all businesses investing in digital advertising. However, our analysis of click data from clients across a
range of sectors shows that average invalid traffic rates vary significantly by industry.
An industry-by-industry breakdown is presented on the graph below, with analysis of each one on the following pages.
25%
20%
21.55%
19.02%
Invalid Traffic Rates
15% 17.42%
15.96%
10% 13.38%
12.43%
10.47% 9.61%
5% 7.52%
6.30%
5.19% 5.08%
3.30%
2.89% 2.02% 1.46%
0%
Insurance Retail Real Financial Leisure, Business Gambling Hospitality IT & Transport Education Manufacturing Healthcare Consumer Legal Construction
Estate Services Travel & Services & Casinos Services Services
Tourism
26 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024 Industry

Industry Analysis
Insurance (21.55%): Gambling & Casinos (10.47%):

The insurance industry experiences a high invalid traffic rate. Bots engage in quote manipulation, The gambling and casinos sector is known to be flooded with invalid traffic. Although the
generate fake policy applications, and attempt to exploit insurance-related ad campaigns. average sits at 10.47%, the higher percentile sees over 50% of invalid traffic. Bots simulate user
activity on gambling sites to manipulate odds, abuse promotions, and engage in fraudulent
Retail (19.02%): gambling activities.
The retail industry experiences a high invalid traffic rate. Bots mimic genuine interest in products
to skew vanity metrics, engage in ad fraud and manipulate inventory through bulk fake Hospitality (9.61%):
checkouts. The hospitality industry faces a significant invalid traffic rate. Bots attempt to exploit hotel
booking systems, generate fake reservations, or manipulate pricing and availability information.
Real Estate (17.42%):
The real estate sector faces a significant invalid traffic rate. Bots manipulate property listings, Information Technology and Services (7.52%):
generate fake inquiries, and exploit real estate-related ad campaigns. The IT and Services sector witnesses moderate invalid traffic rates. Bots often target tech-
related ads to simulate interest in software, services, or technical support, leading to fake leads.
Financial Services (15.96%):
The financial services industry faces a significant invalid traffic rate. This is attributed to bots Transportation (6.30%):
attempting to manipulate financial markets, exploit online banking vulnerabilities or investment The transportation industry witnesses a moderate invalid traffic rate. Bots simulate interest in
platforms, and engage in phishing scams targeting users’ financial information. The financial travel services, generate fake bookings, and manipulate pricing and availability information.
services industry also has a significantly higher CPC compared to the market, making it a
lucrative target for ad fraudsters. Education (5.19%):
The education sector experiences moderate to high levels of invalid traffic rates with the higher
Leisure, Travel & Tourism (13.38%): percentile averaging at 24%. Bots often target educational ads, generating fake enrolments for
The leisure and travel sector contends with a notable invalid traffic rate. Bots manipulate travel courses, webinars, or academic services.
bookings, exploit promotional deals, and engage in click fraud targeting travel-related ads.
Manufacturing (5.08%):
Business Services (12.43%): The manufacturing industry experiences a moderate invalid traffic rate. Bots search for and view
Business Services experience a relatively moderate invalid traffic rate. This is attributed to bots industrial products, generate false inquiries, and manipulate demand-related ad campaigns.
attempting to exploit lead generation forms, automate clicks on ads related to professional
services, or engage in fraudulent activities targeting B2B clients.

Industry Analysis
Healthcare (3.30%):
Healthcare experiences a moderate invalid traffic rate. Bots mimic having an interest in medical
services, generating false appointments or inquiries, including attempting to exploit health-
related ad campaigns.
Consumer Services (2.89%):

Consumer Services also witness a modest level of invalid traffic. Bots simulate an interest in
services like home repair, beauty, or personal care, leading to fake inquiries or interactions.
Legal Services (2.02%):

Legal services have a relatively low invalid traffic rate. Bots simulate interest in legal assistance
and generate fake inquiries, however the complex nature of legal interactions deter extensive bot
activity.
Construction (1.46%):
The construction industry has a low invalid traffic rate due to less lucrative opportunities for bot
operators. Invalid traffic in this sector involves bots mimicking interest in construction projects or
services to generate false leads.
Overall, industries with higher financial incentives, such as insurance, real estate,
retail, and financial services, tend to experience higher rates of invalid traffic due
to the potential for financial gains through fraudulent activities. It’s essential for
businesses in these sectors to employ robust invalid traffic prevention measures and
regularly monitor their advertising campaigns to mitigate the impact of invalid traffic.

Invalid Traffic
by Region
Invalid Traffic by Region
The data indicates that the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region has the The Latin America (LATAM) region stands out with the second-
lowest rate of invalid traffic, at 6.77%. This can be attributed to highest rate of invalid traffic at 18.23%. Cheaper costs to advertise
the region’s increasing digital maturity, widespread adoption with lower CPCs, and limited resources for fraud detection and
of better ad verification solutions (e.g. IAS), and ongoing efforts prevention, lower digital literacy, and a more fragmented digital
by businesses and regulatory bodies to combat ad fraud. advertising landscape, all contribute to higher rates of IVT.
For fraudsters, less developed ecosystems represent a more Businesses targeting this region should be particularly vigilant
lucrative target, making them less likely to focus efforts on the about higher rates of invalid activity.
APAC region. CPCs are also cheaper in APAC which make it a less
lucrative target. Finally, the United Kingdom and Ireland (UKI) region has the
highest rate of invalid traffic at 18.79%. This finding may be
Conversely, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region surprising, considering the region’s strong digital economy
show a significantly higher rate of 17.42%. This discrepancy may and regulatory environment. However, the high rate points to
be influenced by the diverse nature of the region, encompassing the high-degree of sophisticated bot activity in these lucrative
countries with varying levels of digital infrastructure, regulatory markets, highlighting the need for businesses to remain diligent
frameworks, and market dynamics. The higher rate in EMEA in their efforts to combat invalid traffic.
suggests that businesses in this region may need to place
additional emphasis on implementing ad verification measures Ireland has historically seen high levels of sophisticated invalid
to ensure the quality and authenticity of their online ad traffic is traffic (SIVT). Ireland’s favourable regulatory environment and
above standard. corporate tax incentives attracts numerous tech companies,
including Google and Meta, to establish their European
North America (NA) has a relatively lower rate of invalid traffic headquarters in the country. However, this same environment
at 7.50%, which may be attributed to the region’s advanced can also attract malicious actors seeking to exploit gaps in
digital infrastructure, strong advertising industry standards, and enforcement and digital oversight.
widespread adoption of ad verification technologies. However,
this does not mean businesses in the region can be complacent,
as invalid traffic remains a persistent threat that requires
continuous vigilance.

The Paid Media Traffic
Quality Survey
The Business Impact of Invalid Traffic
The Paid Media Traffic Quality Survey - The Business Impact of Invalid Traffic
To help better understand the various business impacts of invalid traffic,

we’ve supplemented the data in our report with insights and feedback
from PPC professionals.
We wanted to discover how marketers are being impacted by

macroeconomic factors and ongoing trends such as the rising adoption of
invalid traffic prevention solutions and the increasing prevalence of fake
lead submissions.
We created a survey of eight questions focusing on a number of key issues which

are closely connected to invalid traffic. We then analysed the responses to each
question to determine the implications for both businesses and marketers alike.
During June 2023, hundreds of marketers completed our survey. Respondents

were invited to take part via a call out sent to Lunio’s mailing list, which includes
agencies, retailers, and B2B brands of various sizes - from startups to multinational
corporations. The results offer a general snapshot of the issues performance
marketers are currently facing across a range of topics.
We wish to thank all our respondents for taking the time to fill out the survey. We
hope the insights learned will help guide decision-making along the path towards
achieving greater performance marketing efficiency.
Below we’ve presented the results from each question in the survey, with an
analysis of what the data suggests about the current state of play in the world of
performance marketing.

Over 39% of performance marketers are working with a smaller

budget in 2023, with another 30% operating with the same Is Your Team Being Asked to ‘Do More with Less’ in 2023?
budget they had in 2022. Only 30% of respondents had an
increased marketing budget for 2023.
This correlates with the prevailing economic situation.

Businesses are facing challenging times, which could Yes:
potentially last several years. The widespread reduction in Our marketing budget is reduced
39.4%
budgets highlights the pressing need for greater efficiency in
managing paid media campaigns.
Despite the difficult circumstances, it is noteworthy that

30.3% of professionals reported having an increased budget,
indicating the downturn has not affected all companies
equally. But even for those with more to spend, the data
shows optimising for greater efficiency is still a critical part of N/A:
successful paid media management. Our marketing budget is staying the same
30.3%
As the industry continues to grapple with limited resources
and economic uncertainties, eliminating wasted ad spend has
become a top priority for businesses aiming to drive growth in
a more competitive landscape.
No:
Our marketing budget is increased
30.3%
More than half of the respondents expressed a lack of

confidence in ad networks’ measures to tackle IVT, with only
11% feeling enough is being done. How Confident Are You That Ad Networks Are Doing
Enough to Combat Invalid Traffic?
This is in-line with the Lunio click data presented at the
beginning of this report. Non-Google platforms have a long
way to go when it comes to improving the effectiveness of
their IVT prevention systems. In comparison, Google is doing
a much better job, with IVT rates ranging from 3% - 7%. But
respondents clearly feel these efforts are still insufficient. 40
36.7%
Ad networks need to improve the effectiveness and
transparency of their invalid traffic prevention systems
to regain the trust of advertisers. Marketers want to know
30 29.4%
% of Responses
exactly what is being done to protect their ad spend on each
platform, and they want full visibility over the invalid traffic
that has been detected and filtered.
22.9%
20
10
7.3%
3.7%
0
1 2 3 4 5
Not Confident Somewhat Very Confident
At All Confident
Refunds for invalid clicks can only be claimed on Google Ads, On the other hand, 52.3% of respondents had not claimed a
which excludes other platforms from this question and its refund, which suggests the complexity of the refund process
analysis. might be acting as a deterrent in some cases. It’s likely
there were more eligible brands that haven’t claimed a
47.7% of respondents had claimed a refund, indicating a refund due to the perceived difficulty. For some, paying for a
substantial number of professionals are aware of the issue of certain volume of invalid clicks is unfortunately viewed as an
invalid clicks and have actively sought to rectify it. Although it inevitable “cost of doing business”.
should be noted these responses come from marketers who
are interacting with IVT prevention solutions such as Lunio
which may skew results. That aside, the process of claiming
Have you Ever Claimed a Refund from an Ad Platform for
a refund is well-known to be long-winded, leading to a high
level of time investment from those brands that successfully
Invalid Clicks / Fake Users?
got their money back.
The fact so many marketers have claimed refunds indicates

a level of scepticism about Google’s automatic credit rebates
for invalid clicks. If Google finds invalid clicks have escaped
automatic detection, the advertiser is eligible to receive credit
for those clicks called “invalid activity” adjustments.
These invalid activity adjustments can be viewed in the Billing

Summary > Transactions section within Google Ads. But as No Yes
Google is still manually issuing refunds to claimants with
enough supporting evidence, it shows the automatic credit
52.3% 47.7%
rebate system does not fully account for all invalid activity.

The majority of marketers still don’t use any form of dedicated

invalid traffic prevention system. This highlights a clear area
for improvement in terms of increasing ad spend efficiency.
It should be noted this sample is unlikely to be fully

representative of the wider market as these survey
Do You Use a Third-Party Invalid Traffic / Click Fraud
respondents were already subscribed to Lunio’s mailing list, Prevention Solution?
suggesting they are familiar with the problem of invalid traffic
and possibly more proactive in seeking solutions. In reality,
the percentage of brands using an invalid traffic prevention
system is lower than 43.1%.
Despite this, there was a notable increase in the adoption of Yes 43.1%
third-party prevention solutions compared to the previous
year. In Lunio’s 2022 State of PPC Survey, 74% of respondents
stated they weren’t using any form of invalid traffic or click
fraud prevention system. This shows a growing recognition
of the importance of safeguarding paid media campaigns
against fake ad engagement. No 56.9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

30.3% of the respondents do not engage in any manual effort to block

invalid traffic. This lack of proactive action leaves campaigns vulnerable
to fake traffic, leading to wasted ad spend and skewed performance
metrics.
Have You Ever Used a Manual Method to Try
On the other hand, 31.2% of performance marketers rely solely on IP
and Block Invalid Traffic?
exclusions, which can be cumbersome and time-consuming, given
the manual nature of the process. The popularity of IP filtering and 40%
blacklisting shows it remains a popular option despite its setbacks.
Audience exclusions are less popular (20.2%) despite being more

efficient and effective than IP blocking in most cases. Audience 30%
exclusions are the primary negative targeting option on many ad
31.2% 30.3%
% of Respondents
platforms, and dedicated solutions like Lunio can automatically
generate cross-platform exclusion lists. Filtering out invalid traffic via
exclusion audiences is a highly effective way of increasing ad spend
20%
efficiency, especially on non-Google channels where average IVT rates
are often higher than 10%. 20.2%
18.3%
Only 18.3% of respondents take a highly proactive stance against invalid
10%
traffic, showing a gap in an understanding of the impact IVT can have
on campaign performance. Through reports, guides, and webinars,
Lunio aims to bridge this gap by raising awareness among performance
marketers about the problems created by fake ad engagement.
0%
Yes - Extensive Yes - Extensive Yes - IP filtering and No
audience audience exclusion blacklisting only
exclusion parameters parameters only
& IP filtering and
blacklisting

While audience exclusions are less popular than IP blocking

How Frequently Do You Use Exclusion
when it comes to blocking invalid traffic, it’s encouraging
to see the majority of performance marketers are using
Audiences to Improve Your Targeting?
audience exclusions to enhance their targeting.
65.2% of respondents actively minimise wasted ad spend

by applying exclusion audiences to all campaign types. This
helps ensure budgets are being concentrated on the most
valuable audiences i.e. those that are most likely to convert.
Despite this, 6.4% of respondents never use exclusion

audiences. Another 15.6% only use exclusion audiences on
Search, while 12.8% only use them on Paid Social. For these
brands, making more extensive use of exclusion audiences
resents a low-effort, high-reward strategy for improving
performance marketing efficiency.
6.4% Never
12.8% Sometimes, on Social only
15.6% Sometimes, on Search only
41.3% Most of the time across Search & Social
23.9% Every campaign we run uses exclusion audiences

69.7% of respondents acknowledge problems with spam or fake

lead submissions originating from their paid media campaigns. Have You Ever Experienced Problems With Spam / Fake Lead
The high prevalence of fake leads represents a significant Submissions Coming From Paid Media Campaigns?
challenge for marketers, both in terms of cost and operational
efficiency.
N/A
It’s important to note not all fake leads are the result of invalid
No
activity. A small number of fake leads come from real human
visitors giving false information to avoid being added to a
mailing list. These kinds of fake leads are usually easier to spot
(e.g. [email protected]) and remove from CRMs.
But the majority of fake leads come from bots filling online forms, 15.6%
usually with user information stolen from real people, making it 14.7%
difficult to tell whether they’re real or fake at a glance.
The cost of fake leads can be substantial. Firstly, there is the

Yes
wasted ad spend associated with the invalid click through to the
landing page. But the business costs start to stack up rapidly as
hours are wasted investigating and following up leads with zero
conversion potential.
69.7%

Which of These Are Your Biggest Concerns Today? (Choose up to 3)
60%
50.5%
40% 43.1%
42.2% 39.4%
33.9%
26.6%
20% 22% 22%
19.3%
15.6% 15.6%
12.8%
5.5% 5.5%
0%
Generating Conversion Invalid Justifying Rising Loss of Insights Loss of control Ensuring Precise Conversion rate Data integrity Upcoming Increase in AI- Maintaining Brand
Quality tracking & Traffic Marketing Advertising / Data in Ad over ad Audience optimisation & accuracy deprecation generated ads GDPR / Privacy Safety
Leads attribution ROI Costs Networks spend due to Targeting of 3rd party & automated compliance
automation cookies campaign
types

For this question, respondents could select a maximum of 3 The third biggest concern for performance marketers is invalid
performance marketing-related concerns from a list of 14. The traffic (42.2%). This indicates a growing awareness of the scale
top three concerns are featured in the analysis below. and cost of the problem. Invalid traffic directly wastes ad spend,
because those “visitors” never convert. It distorts analytics,
Generating quality leads came out on top, with 50.5% of leading to unwise budget allocation. And it also causes projected
respondents citing it as an ongoing issue. This highlights the revenue forecasts to become unpredictable. As the data in the
importance of refining audience targeting through exclusions, report indicate, ad networks currently aren’t doing enough to
especially when using automated campaign types. Many brands definitely tackle the problem. Therefore it’s down to marketers
would also benefit from implementing a dedicated solution like themselves to put in place extra protections to safeguard their
Lunio to eliminate bot-driven fake leads at the source, preventing campaigns against IVT on all channels.
them from entering CRMs.
In second place was conversion tracking and attribution

(43.1%). This concern has always been prominent for marketers
- but poor conversion tracking is even more of a problem given
that paid media is becoming increasingly automated. With
algorithmically-driven targeting and spend optimisation, the
principle of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ applies. So marketers need
to do everything they can to enhance the quality of the data
they’re feeding into campaign algorithms. This includes things
like maintaining meticulous offline conversion tracking, using
the Enhanced Conversions feature in Google Ads, and regularly
auditing setups to ensure everything is working as it should.

The Role of Viewability in
Reducing Wasted Spend
The Role of Viewability in Reducing Wasted Spend
To give an in depth picture of the current state of wasted ad How Does Viewability Data Complement Click Data?
spend, Lunio has partnered with Integral Ad Science (IAS) a
leading global media measurement and optimisation platform. A combination of viewability and click data provides unrivalled insight into invalid and fraudulent activity across every important
marketing channel including connected TV (CTV), programmatic, open web, paid search, and paid social.
About IAS
The table below outlines how a combination of pre-bid optimisation and post-click protection work hand-in-hand to provide full
Integral Ad Science (IAS) provides the industry’s most actionable
data to drive superior results. They take a measured, calibrated, coverage of the entire digital advertising ecosystem:
and optimised approach to fraud detection, powered by AI and

machine learning to provide advertisers with the most accurate
IVT Prevention Solutions (e.g. Lunio) Ad Verification Solutions (e.g. IAS)
detection and prevention. IAS processes 100+ billion daily web
transactions, with trillions of data events measured globally
Traffic/Clicks Media Impressions
each month. Founded in 2009, they work with 2100+ of the top Identifies quality traffic and determines user validity Focus on measurement of holistic media quality
Measurement Event
advertisers and have over 400 direct integrations with premium (fake or real) in a post-click / interaction environment, creating (Brand Safety/Suitability, Viewability, Fraud), preventing
cross-platform exclusion lists. delivery against low-quality media.
publishers worldwide.
On-site Pixel, Walled-Garden API Integration

3rd Party Tags & Server to Server
In the same way Lunio ensures every click comes from a genuine Direct access to both websites & buying platforms
MMT wrappers dynamically adapt to the environment to
user, IAS identifies the most cost-effective path to quality Implementation (inc. walled gardens) which creates a feedback loop of
serve the right creative and ensure measurement. Server to
optimisation against IVT and fraud.
impressions. They ensure ads are viewable by real people, in safe server integrations on major social media platforms.
and suitable environments, activating contextual targeting, and

Measurement, Protection &
driving supply path optimisation. Measurement & Protection of Media Quality
Optimisation of Search/Walled Gardens
Contextual understanding of placements, supply path
Use Cases Reduce IVT & fraud in walled garden ad platforms and
optimisation, and video ad engagement analysis to
Their mission is to be the global benchmark for trust and claw back wasted ad spend.
maximise programmatic campaign efficiency.
transparency in digital media quality for the world’s leading
brands, publishers, and platforms.
In essence, pairing the two types of data gives complete insight into the whole ad journey, from impression through to clicks
to conversions. Post-click data from Lunio reveals key insights about on-site behaviour to detect and exclude invalid traffic
at a level not possible with viewability data only. Pre-bid impression-level data from IAS reveals opportunities to maximise
viewability and engagement rates for every ad served before the clicks even occur.
Where Does the IAS Data Come From? Definitions
The IAS data presented in the following pages originates from the In order to understand and contextualise IAS data, it’s
18th edition of their Media Quality Report, first published in May important to establish definitions for two key terms. Unlike
2023. All performance benchmarks are available in a companion paid ad clicks, which are either legitimate or invalid,
workbook for those who wish to review the findings in more assessing the quality of ad impressions is more complex
granular detail. and nuanced.
IAS measures trillions of data events annually and observes Viewability

global media quality developments in real-time. Their Media Per the Media Ratings Council (MRC) standards, a display ad
Quality Report leverages this database to offer an industry impression is considered viewable if at least 50% of pixels are on
barometer against which ad buyers and sellers can benchmark screen for at least one second after the ad has rendered. A video
the quality of their campaigns and inventory. ad impression is viewable if the ad is playing while at least 50%
of the pixels are on screen for at least two continuous seconds.
Time-in-View
Time-in-view is the average duration that a viewable impression
remains in view. Impressions that are not viewable according to
the Media Ratings Council (MRC) standard are not included in
this calculation.

Viewability
Viewability | Overall | Worldwide
The graph opposite represents global viewability data averaged H1 2019 - 2022
across all environments including desktop display, desktop
video, mobile web display, and mobile web video.
75.0%
Annual viewability averages worldwide have risen 9% between
2019 and 2022. This long-term upward trend has pushed average
74.5%
viewability levels to hover between 70% and 75% for several years, 73.6%
with the global average reaching 73.6% in H2 2022. 72.5%
72.9%
72.6%
Viewability Rate
71.8%
70.0%
69.8% 70.2%
67.5%
66.5%
65.0%
H1 2019 H2 2019 H1 2020 H2 2020 H1 2021 H2 2021 H1 2022 H2 2022

Analysis of Viewability Rates Should We Strive For 100% Viewability?
Taking the global average for viewability in H2 2022, 26.4% of This means it would be inaccurate to claim 26.4% of advertisers The path towards 100% viewability is central to advertising
impressions served during this time period were non-viewable ads. budgets were “wasted” on non-viewable ads. The proportion strategies for marketers across the globe. In theory, this would
of budget that was truly wasted is lower than 26.4%, but it’s not minimise ad spend inefficiency by ensuring every single ad
This represents a significant source of inefficiency within possible to establish an exact figure due to the way viewability served is seen by a real person, in accordance with viewability
programmatic ad campaigns. But unlike an invalid click, a non- is established. standards.
viewable ad doesn’t immediately equate to wasted ad spend, for
the reasons outlined below. Despite this, the upward trend in viewability is encouraging. But But in reality, striving for ever-increasing levels of viewability
these rates can only be achieved by using a pre-bid verification can result in a law of diminishing returns, whereby the financial
Non-viewable ads may still have some impact on consumers. solution like IAS. Advertisers running programmatic campaigns cost required to achieve 100% can actually hinder profitability.
Viewability requires half of the pixels in display ads to remain in- without any verification risk significantly higher amounts of wasted Data obtained from IAS clients show higher quality impressions
view for at least one second once they have rendered. For video ad spend due to the fact that a much higher proportion of their (i.e. those that meet viewability standards) end up costing more
ads, the threshold is two seconds while half of the video player is served ads will be non-viewable. than lower quality impressions. As a result, the advertiser may
in view. end up reducing their overall return on ad spend by continuing
to strive for viewability rates above certain levels.
Given this, some of the ads within the 26.4% deemed to be non-
viewable may have fallen just short of these thresholds. For Therefore striking a balance is the key to maximally efficient
example, they may have been in view for just under one or two spending. By using the appropriate pre-bid segments,
seconds, or only one-third of the ad may have been visible. In performance marketers can maintain relatively high viewability,
these cases, the ads could still have an impact on consumers, even maximise conversions, maintain a competitive cost-per-
though they didn’t meet the viewability standard. conversion, and minimise the impact on scale.

Time-in-View
The graph below represents global time-in-view data averaged across all environments.
In contrast to the trend observed with viewability, annual time-in-view averages have declined since 2020 when a
historical high of 18.40 seconds was registered. Since then, there has been a steady decline in time-in-view, reaching
16.43 seconds in H2 2022, representing an 8.5% long-term reduction between 2019 and 2022.
Time-in-View (seconds) | Overall | Worldwide

H1 2019 - 2022
18.5
18 18.40
18.32
Seconds
17.5 17.83
17.42
17
17.00
16.5
16.59 16.66
16.43
16
H1 2019 H2 2019 H1 2020 H2 2020 H1 2021 H2 2021 H1 2022 H2 2022

Time-in-View Incremental Index

How Does Declining Time-in-View Impact ROAS?
This trend means impressions that were viewable tended to be 45%

viewed for a shorter period of time. This applies to both display and 44.6%
video ads. 40%
41%
At first glance, shorter time-in-view may seem undesirable. As is the
35%
case with striving for 100% viewability, a longer time on screen isn’t
always the key to driving cost effectiveness. While longer time-in- 34%
30%
view is the strongest driver of incremental sales, IAS found that the
30%
29%
time-in-view sweet spot to maximise ROAS is actually lower.
25%
IAS partnered with Catalina and a top consumer packaged
goods (CPG) brand to study how viewability and time-in-view 20%
21.6%
impact incremental sales and ROAS. In this study, they found ads
that remained in view for 11 seconds or more drove the highest
15%
percentage of incremental sales.
10% 72 118 108

However, ads that remained in-view
between three and 10 seconds hit the 5%
sweet spot: they were highest on the
incremental index — driving additional 0%
sales and boosting ROAS for the CPG
0-2 3 - 10 11+
brand compared to both shorter and
Seconds Seconds Seconds
longer time-in-view ranges.
IAS Time-in-View Incremental Sales

Incremental Index
Percentage Percentage
Maximising Viewability, Minimising IVT
Maximising ad viewability and reducing invalid traffic are essential

components of successful digital advertising campaigns. Achieving these
goals is critical for ad platforms to maintain a trustworthy and effective
ecosystem for publishers and consumers alike. The combined use of
Integral Ad Science (IAS) for ad viewability & brand safety, and Lunio for
reducing invalid traffic in post-click environments, becomes indispensable
for businesses prioritising efficiency over growth at all costs.
By protecting every part of the ad journey against invalid traffic, from

impressions through to clicks and conversion activities, advertisers can
enhance their campaigns’ efficiency, improve user experiences, and
achieve better ROI.

The Environmental Impact
of Digital Advertising &
Invalid Traffic
The Environmental Impact of Digital Advertising & Invalid Traffic
To help shine a light on the environmental impact of the

About Scope3 Where Does the Scope3 Data Come From?
advertising industry, and invalid traffic in particular, Lunio
leveraged emission data from Scope3.
Scope3 is on a mission to decarbonise media and advertising. The Scope3 data presented in this report originates from their Q1
For organisations seeking to make carbon-aware business and Q2 2023 State of Sustainable Advertising reports. Details of
Scope3 specialise in measuring digital advertising industry
decisions, Scope3 is the supply chain emissions data standard the methodology used to establish carbon emission benchmarks
emissions and offer solutions to help brands and marketers
that delivers an accurate, comprehensive, and independent are available in full within the original reports for those that wish
reduce their carbon footprint through more sustainable
emissions model for every company in the digital ecosystem. to review the findings in more granular detail.
practices.
Leveraging an open-source and science-backed methodology, The data selected for presentation in this report is primarily
It’s important for marketers to understand the impact of invalid
Scope3 emissions intelligence data powers the tools brands, focused on players in the programmatic space, and it represents
traffic extends beyond financial loss. It also contributes to a
agencies, publishers and technology providers use to measure, billions of impressions across tens of thousands of domains/
higher carbon footprint due to the energy costs associated with
understand and take action to reduce their carbon footprint. apps on desktop and mobile (including video and banner
generating and processing fake traffic, while offering absolutely
Founded in January 2022, Scope3 has a global workforce display ads).
nothing in return for advertisers.
distributed across North America, Europe and APAC.
To provide an accurate estimate of the programmatic industry’s
The environmental impact, coupled with the wasted
carbon footprint, Scope3 used a third-party data source in
spend experienced by brands calls for a united front
BIScience to assess total emissions values for a given market, as
against invalid traffic. By proactively eliminating IVT
well as for validation purposes against their own datasets.
and prioritising environmentally conscious advertising
practices, the industry as a whole can drive down its
carbon footprint while simultaneously driving greater
campaign performance.
The Overall State of Digital Carbon Emissions Emissions at the Per-Impression Basis
In their Q2 2023 State of Sustainable Advertising Report, Scope3 Understanding how ad industry emissions stack up at the global
looked at the total emissions attributed to programmatic display level is important. But using impression-level data is what
advertising. surfaces useful insights that can drive marketers and companies
to alter their behaviour.
They found that programmatic display alone generates

In their Q2 Report, Scope3 found that serving 1,000 digital
3.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions
impressions uses 330gCO2e on average.
globally every year.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s

That’s equivalent to 427,000,000 gallons of gasoline greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, this means
consumed or 10,675,000,000 (that’s over ten BILLION) every 1,000 impressions uses the same amount of energy
miles driven in the average family car. required to fully charge 40 smartphones!
This brings the issue of carbon emissions from digital advertising

This figure highlights the most complete and accurate view of
into sharp focus. Considering campaigns routinely rack up
the programmatic industry’s carbon footprint calculated to date.
millions of impressions, each one consumes enough energy to
The numbers are for sites and apps across desktop and mobile, charge tens of thousands of smartphones.
and include video and banner ads.
By understanding the carbon impact of campaigns at
the impression level, marketers and brands can begin to
conceptualise the extent of their impact on the environment.
This is the first step in the path towards eliminating unnecessarily
wasteful practices within digital advertising.

Carbon Emissions in Programmatic & Display What’s Made-for-Advertising Inventory?
In their reports, Scope3 also looked at how publisher emissions “Made-for-Advertising” (MFA) is a subset of climate risk inventory. Speaking to Digiday, Damon Reeve, CEO of the UK-based publisher
stack up to identify factors which drive up the total emissions alliance Ozone said:
These sites masquerade as prime real estate for online advertising,
attributed to programmatic advertising.
but ads placed on them yield little impact on consumer behaviour.
As such Scope3 have singled them out as a significant source of “MFA sites are a great working example of a programmatic
By charting how emissions are distributed at the publisher level,
carbon inefficiency within the digital advertising ecosystem. system being gamed. Advertisers don’t like them,
the difference between highly efficient domains and carbon heavy
publishers is clear. publishers don’t like them, and yet advertiser budgets still
Placements on MFA sites make up 15% of total advertiser flow to them. And that’s because they are designed to
On one end of the spectrum, there are incredibly carbon-efficient spend, according to an ANA study recently published. perform according to the ad-tech metrics that advertisers
publishers – these domains can be classified as Green. The value for their digital budgets.”
other side is a major problem area for digital advertising. These
The pages on MFA sites are overrun by towering banner ads and
domains have unnecessarily high carbon emissions and should be
strategically positioned video ad players, morphing the browsing
considered Climate Risk.
experience into a cacophony of chaos. The user experience
is terrible, but the programmatic algorithms that facilitate ad
What’s Climate Risk Inventory?
purchases perceive these sites as golden opportunities. In principle
the ads are more likely to be seen, and they’re cheaper than a lot of
Extremely high carbon domains, the worst emitting media
other ads.
properties which are typically fraud, made-for-advertising (MFA), or
low-value inventory.
By industry standards, MFAs do not meet the criteria for invalid
traffic (IVT). The visitors to such sites are mostly genuine, but the
According to Scope3’s Q2 report, climate risk inventory carries a
duration of their engagement is typically short-lived. This occurs
significant cost for marketers, both in terms of carbon and revenue.
when traffic is acquired through content recommendation
Emissions from climate risk inventory are on average 2x higher than
companies rather than organically earned. As a result they tread a
the market average, while underperforming by 13%.
fine line between legitimate traffic and potential IVT.
Defunding Climate Risk Inventory Viewability & Carbon Emissions
Both Scope3 reports make it clear all forms of climate risk inventory When Scope3 data is paired with data from the IAS on viewability, it That important caveat aside, as overall viewability rates continue
need to be defunded. highlights the vital importance of using an ad verification solution to increase over time, carbon dioxide emissions for non-viewable
to minimise the amount of carbon emitted to serve non-viewable impressions will come down.
For instance, the worst 10% of domains contribute 33.5k impressions.

metric tons of CO2e monthly across the 5 countries studied Advertisers that continue to run programmatic campaigns without
in the Q1 report (United States, Great Britain, France, Of the 3.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions globally any ad verification solution in place are contributing significantly
Germany and Australia). That’s equivalent to driving a car every year by programmatic display advertising, we can assume higher amounts of wasted carbon emissions, as a much higher
86 million miles, or 3,449 ‘road trips’ around planet Earth. 26.4% of all impressions were non-viewable - based on IAS proportion of their served ads are non-viewable.
benchmarks presented in the previous section of this report.

This represents the carbon the advertising industry can eliminate
today. This means 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide are
emitted each year to serve non-viewable impressions.
Concentrating spend on Green domains not only reduces
emissions, it also helps drive better performance through higher It’s important to note that in the same way it would be unfair to
quality placements which receive more genuine and sustained equate non-viewable impressions with wasted ad spend, it’s
engagement. inaccurate to claim the 1 million metric tons used to serve non-
viewable impressions were entirely wasted.
For the reasons outlined in the previous section of the report, a

certain proportion of non-viewable impressions can still have an
impact on consumers, especially those that fall just short of the
viewability standard.

Identifying Waste Within Programmatic Supply Chains

Programmatic advertising’s
Data from both the Q1 and Q2 Scope 3 reports reinforce the long-standing crowded supply chain
thinking that programmatic advertising tech stacks are bloated with generates the lion’s share
unnecessary hops. of carbon emissions
20.3%
Each ad impression travels through an “advertising life cycle,” starting with
Consumer Device
the programmatic selection process and ending when the ad is finally
delivered to a consumer’s screen. The three main parts of that journey are
ad selection, creative distribution, and media distribution. And each part
contributes to an ad’s total emissions.
Source of Emissions
Scope3 data reveals ‘ad selection’ is an obvious area of improvement.
With upwards of 60% of emissions coming from this part of the ad life in Ad Impressions
cycle, marketers who focus their attention on adjusting their programmatic Global Average
supply chain have the potential to lower emissions significantly.
60.7% Scope3 State of Sustainability Report - Q1 2023
The extra emissions baggage this factor carries might be exactly what the Ad Selection 10.1%
industry needs to actually remove unnecessary supply paths. Media Distribution
8.9%
Creative Distribution
Carbon Emissions Per-Click Calculating Carbon Wasted on IVT
While both the Q1 and Q2 reports focus on emissions at the Of the 2.6 billion clicks analysed in Lunio’s Wasted Ad Spend Report,
impression level, Lunio worked with Scope3 to provide a benchmark 228 million (8.5%) were invalid. When we apply an average IVT rate
estimate for emissions on a per-click basis, as well as an estimate of 8.5% to the emission benchmark above we can determine the
of how much carbon is wasted on invalid traffic. amount of carbon wasted per 100 paid ad clicks:
This was done by assuming an average click-through rate (CTR) for 561gCO2e is wasted on invalid traffic for every 100 paid ad
display campaigns. clicks. That’s equivalent to driving an average car for 1.4
miles.
The average CTR for Google Display ads sits around 0.5%. This
means advertisers can expect five clicks for every 1,000 impressions Considering marketing campaigns for large enterprises routinely
served. rack up tens of thousands of clicks, the amount of carbon wasted
on invalid traffic every year is substantial.
Based on Scope3 data this means five paid ad clicks uses
approximately 330gCO2e. This allowed to establish a carbon
emission benchmark per 100 paid ad clicks: 16.9 Miles
100 paid ad clicks generates 6.6kgCO2e
That’s equivalent to driving an average car for

16.9 miles.

Less Carbon, Better Advertising 1. Eliminate invalid traffic across all campaigns
“94% of the total solution to curbing the climate crisis is The path towards decarbonisation and greater ad spend efficiency
cutting emissions, and emissions cuts that start in the starts with eliminating what doesn’t work. Namely, invalid traffic with
zero-conversion potential.
2020s make up 75% of what’s needed to meet existing
climate goals.”
Introducing a solution like Lunio to eliminate invalid activity across
all ad channels represents a low-effort, high-impact strategy
– Dr. John Foley, Project Drawdown
every brand can adopt to drive greater performance while
simultaneously reducing their carbon footprint.
The millions of metric tons coming from advertising every year fall
The downstream benefits go beyond reducing wasted spend.
into the category of emissions that can more readily be eliminated.
Excluding IVT prevents analytics being skewed by bad data. It
While robust and accurate emissions data is foundational to
dramatically reduces the number of fake lead submissions. And it
sustainable advertising, it is ultimately the actions that are taken
allows advertisers to focus 100% of their budget on audiences with
with it that will drive change.
genuine conversion potential, leading to higher sales volumes and
improved return on ad spend.
Marketing decision-makers need to keep emissions in mind to
achieve the goal of decarbonisation. Doing so not only benefits
the planet, it also drives significant increases in campaign
performance. With that said, here are four ways brands can reduce
their emissions:

The remaining three recommendations apply to brands 4. Optimise supply paths to reduce emissions stemming
investing in programmatic display campaigns: from ad selection
2. Use an ad verification solution to maximise viewability The ad selection part of the ad life cycle represents the lion’s
rates share of carbon emissions in the programmatic space. Brands
can work to streamline their ad tech stack by identifying and
Using an ad verification solution like IAS helps to maximise both moving away from high emitting partners, while also asking
viewability rates and profitability via programmatic campaigns. preferred publishers to review their supply paths and shift spend
Doing so serves to minimise carbon emissions associated with to green media solutions.
serving less effective, non-viewable impressions.
3. Avoid spending on Made-for-Advertising sites
Brands, agencies, publishers, and ad tech companies can

collectively shift spend to avoid climate risk inventory and/or to
favour green media. By eliminating MFA sites, advertisers can
expect positive impacts on relevant metrics, while reducing the
disproportionately high carbon emissions associated with these
ineffective ad impressions.

Conclusion
In the world of performance marketing, efficiency is paramount. And given the problem of wasted ad spend clearly isn’t going anywhere, brands need to tackle its root
cause in the form of invalid traffic to continue driving incremental improvements across all channels - from localised search and social campaigns right through to
programmatic display. Doing so not only opens a path to new levels of profitability, it also helps protect the planet by driving down needless carbon emissions.
As our data shows, invalid traffic is the root cause of advertising Our research has found a considerable rise in Quality Path For years the ad industry has worked hard to stay ahead of
inefficiency and it’s increasingly impacting “walled garden” Optimisation adoption among marketers globally, indicating a bad actors. We’ve embraced new technology and practices
platforms too. Solving for what was once considered a real need for solutions that maximise ROI. We’ve seen viewability that promise to improve ad effectiveness and cut waste while
problem for the open web only now must be at the centre of improve across all regions, and global ad fraud rates have still delivering outcomes for marketers. But, the data shows
every marketer’s campaign strategy, regardless of channel. remained stable but optimising for viewability solely to reach there’s still more work to be done. Applying a sustainability
The lost revenue opportunity for brands as a result of invalid industry standards may not necessarily result in significant lens to campaigns has opened our eyes to the full extent
traffic polluting their campaigns amounts to hundreds of return on ad spend (ROAS). Quality spend is one of the leading of the waste problem in advertising, and also exposed how
billions of dollars per year - and the potential unmeasurable criteria for marketers when it comes to quality path optimisation, inefficiency is responsible for excessive, and unnecessary,
impact of polluted data could be even larger. Above all else, and by using the appropriate pre-bid segments, high viewability carbon emissions. By combining emissions data with other
our data makes one thing extremely clear: the security-first can be maintained, in addition to high conversions while data sources, like Lunio’s IVT data and IAS’s viewability data,
approach to tackling bots & IVT is failing, and will continue to
minimising the impact on scale. we can begin to pinpoint opportunities to reduce these
do so in this new AI-powered age. It’s time for an advertising-
unnecessary emissions, eliminating wasteful spend and
first approach to solving this problem, which focuses on
ensuring more effective and sustainable campaigns for
attaining profitable outcomes rather than providing arbitrary
marketers as a result.
deterministic good/bad classifications.
Neil Andrew Jeremy Kanterman Anne Coghlan

Co-Founder & CEO VP of Research & Insights Co-Founder & COO
The data in this report highlights the true impact of invalid traffic. In addition to the spend directly wasted on invalid clicks and impressions, fake traffic destroys potential revenue opportunities and limits business growth.
Invalid traffic shouldn’t be viewed as an inevitable “cost of doing business”. By taking collective action to eradicate it, advertisers can help build a cleaner, more transparent digital
ecosystem where every click, impression and placement drives genuine business value.

About
Lunio is an invalid traffic prevention platform that Integral Ad Science (IAS) is a leading global media Scope3 is on a mission to decarbonise media and
automatically removes bots and fake ad engagements measurement and optimisation platform that delivers the advertising. For organisations seeking to make carbon-
across all walled-garden paid marketing channels - industry’s most actionable data to drive superior results aware business decisions, Scope3 is the supply chain
including Google, Bing, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, and many for the world’s largest advertisers, publishers, and media emissions data standard that delivers an accurate,
more. By eliminating fake traffic, 100% of your ad spend is platforms. IAS’s software provides comprehensive and comprehensive, and independent emissions model for
focused on audiences with genuine conversion potential, enriched data that ensures ads are seen by real people every company in the digital ecosystem. Leveraging an
allowing you to make better campaign optimisations with in safe and suitable environments, while improving return open-source and science-backed methodology, Scope3
validated data. No more wasted spend. No more worthless on ad spend for advertisers and yield for publishers. emissions intelligence data powers the tools brands,
traffic. And no more guesswork. Get complete traffic Our mission is to be the global benchmark for trust and agencies, publishers and technology providers use to
transparency to help you improve metrics that matter. The transparency in digital media quality. measure, understand and take action to reduce their
way paid media should be. carbon footprint. Founded in January 2022, Scope3 has a
For more information, visit integralads.com global workforce distributed across North America, Europe
For more information, visit lunio.ai and APAC.
For more information, visit scope3.com

End Wasted Spend
With Lunio
Concentrate 100% of your budget on real buyers by
automatically excluding fake traffic from your ad
channels. Get a free 14-day audit to see how much
you’re currently spending on invalid activity.
Try Lunio Today

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Wasted

The Paid Media Traffic Quality Survey

22. Performance Max 45. Overall Trends in Viewability Rates

Scope 3 - The Environment Impact of Digital Advertising & Invalid Traffic

2 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2023

What is Invalid Traffic? How Does Invalid Traffic Impact Businesses?

In addition to our own data, we’ve also partnered with Integral

3 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

4 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Foreword From the CEO

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our

Neil Andrew, Co-Founder & CEO at Lunio

5 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Total Paid 5.5% of traffic coming from Google channels

17.5% of traffic coming from non-Google

6 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Forecasting Wasted Ad Spend

Google Non-Google Channels

In 2024, Google’s ad revenue is forecasted to amount to $301.59 billion, an increase of

When we again apply an IVT rate of 17.5%, this equates to:

$54.78 billion forecasted to be wasted on Non-Google

8 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2023

Total Wasted Ad Spend Growing IVT is Stifling Digital Revenue Growth

9 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Analysis - Google Channels

against IVT. reduce it to negligible levels (<1%).

“When we find something wrong, we try to make it right as soon

11 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Analysis - Non-Google Channels

12 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Despite the differences between Google and non-Google

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Invalid Traffic Rate

13 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

14 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Google Video Partners: 24.55%

Google disputes the claims, stating the report used “unreliable

15 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

X (Formerly Twitter): 23.61%

Lastly, bad actors routinely use bots in an attempt to manipulate

Failing to fix the bot problem paired with changes to content

16 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

17 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Pinterest is a highly-visual platform, which makes it relatively

Many users still use Pinterest as a platform to promote products

Another factor is the feature of pin repinning and group boards.

The apparent absence of a robust invalid traffic detection

An IVT rate of 14.00% applied to Pinterest’s

18 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

19 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Microsoft Ads / Bing: 8.46%

Bing’s IVT prevention systems have performed relatively well,

20 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

Google Display Network: 7.32%

Performance Max: 5.96%

Google Search (inc. Shopping): 4.72%

23 | Wasted Ad Spend Report 2024

YouTube Video: 3.93%