Digital Advertising Spend Lost to Fraud to Reach $68 Billion Globally in 2022

A new Juniper Research study has found that the value of digital advertising spend lost to fraud will reach $68 billion globally in 2022; rising from $59 billion in 2021. The comprehensive research identified the top 5 countries most impacted by advertising fraud, which together account for 60% of global losses:

1. US
2. Japan
3. China
4. South Korea
5. UK

US to Account for 35% of Ad Fraud Losses in 2022

The new study, “Digital Advertising Fraud: Key Trends, Competitor Landscape & Market Forecasts 2022-2026”, found that those advertising in the US will potentially suffer the most in financial loss due to fraudulent activity, with total losses in the US expected to surpass $23 billion in 2022. 

The US represents the largest market for digital advertising spend, with high levels of Internet penetration and elevated mobile app and browser usage presenting strong opportunities for the display of promotional content. 

Research author Scarlett Woodford remarked: “With the US representing such a significant market in terms of advertising spend, campaigns in North America will undoubtedly attract the attention of fraudulent players. This will lead to unprecedented innovation in fraud tactics within the US, with advertisers demonstrating a greater requirement for fraud detection and mitigation services.” 

Fraud Detection & Mitigation Key to Tackling Fraud

In response to the rising threat of ad fraud, the report urges digital advertisers targeting these five markets to form strategic partnerships with ad fraud detection and prevention vendors capable of distinguishing between valid and fraudulent advertising traffic that provides no return on ad spend.

It found that the most successful ad fraud detection tools will harness machine learning algorithms to compare advertising traffic with previously observed, verifiable baseline data. As a result, the report urges advertisers to adopt fraud and mitigation solutions to maximise return on ad spend through the earlier detection of new fraud tactics.