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VIRTUALISATION Click fraud: advertisers to watch closely in 2009
VIRTUALISATION Click fraud: advertisers to watch closely in 2009 | Click fraud: advertisers to watch closely in 2009 |
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| Information technology news - Internet | |
| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Sunday, 30 November 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2   
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“Click fraud is a type of Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud. “Use of a computer to commit this type of Internet fraud is a felony in many jurisdictions, for example, as covered by Penal code 502 in California, USA, and the Computer Misuse Act 1990 in the United Kingdom. There have been arrests relating to click fraud with regard to malicious clicking in order to deplete a competitor's advertising budget.” The “Click Fraud Network” (CFN) has, for the past three years, published the “Click Fraud Index” to monitor and report on data gathered from the Network, which is built up from more than 4,500 online advertisers and agencies. CFN’s latest index report shows that: - The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.0 percent for Q3 2008. That’s down slightly from the 16.2 percent rate reported for both Q2 2008 and Q3 2007. - The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 27.1 percent. That’s down from the 27.6 percent rate reported for Q2 2008 and the 28.1 percent average click fraud rate reported for Q3 2007. - Traffic from botnets was responsible for 27.6 percent of all click fraud traffic in Q3 2008. That’s up from 25.2 percent for Q2 2008. - In Q3 2008, the greatest percentage of click fraud originating from countries outside North America came from Russia (4.9 percent), France (4.8 percent) and the U.K. (3.5 percent). Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics, said: “For the past two quarters the industry average click fraud rates seems to be hovering around the 16 percent level. “Gains are being made by advertisers taking more action to proactively filter out fraud before it affects online campaigns. However, the growth in click fraud traffic from botnets continues to rise and it should be one of the top areas advertisers and the industry should monitor closely.” Click fraud will also “shape ad decisions in 2009”, especially in light of the current economic crisis, according to Adotas.com, a US site for online media buyers. Details are on page 2, please read on. |
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