Dive Brief:
- The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) conducted research that uncovered around two-thirds (61%) of digital advertisers were not aware, or at best, were slightly familiar with sourced traffic.
- Sourced traffic is any method by digital media sellers to get visitors via third-parties, and the tactic is commonly used to reach audience guarantees for digital ad campaigns.
- The key issue from sourced traffic, according the ANA, is the lack of transparency as well as the opportunity for ad fraud.
Dive Insight:
Transparency should be the cornerstone of any marketing strategy. Everything in marketing is now driven by the end user for both B2C and B2B marketers, and every move can be fact checked.
“Our study shows that sourced traffic is not understood sufficiently by marketers,” ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice said in a statement. “Sourced traffic needs to be monitored carefully and marketers must be increasingly diligent about their digital media buys. Media agencies must educate clients, safeguard client investments, and challenge media companies to be much more transparent.”
The ANA survey was small – it only received 134 responses from its memberships – but from that group it found a scant 19% were familiar or extremely familiar with the tactic, and 20% were moderately familiar with the tactic. The report also emphasized the "alarmingly high level of digital ad fraud in the form of non-human traffic" that comes of sourced traffic.
Fraudulent ads hurt user experience, and for marketers, cost them in wasted dollars spend on CPMs that never reached the target audience. The ANA recommends advertisers set guidelines on sourced traffic they can share with agencies and media companies so that clear best practices are in place.