AI ML in AdTech: How VeraViews Impacts the Global Ad Fraud Identification Industry

The current wave of generative AI (gen AI) is sweeping across all conceivable sectors, including digital advertising. Adtech platforms are relying on AI and machine learning technologies to refine audience tracking and targeting. However, gen AI for adtech has made the biggest impact on how advertisers and publishers detect ad fraud and prevent privacy infringements. In 2023, the advertisers lost $100 billion to ad fraud-related issues. New technologies such as gen AI and open ledger can reduce IVT in ad inventory. Stoked by a palpable eagerness to combine AI ML with blockchain capabilities, adtech companies such as VeraViews make a huge contribution to ad fraud detection technologies in the global advertising marketplace. For example, VeraViews improves the ROI of programmatic and display advertising by providing real-time, ad fraud detection, IVT tracking, and audience data measurements. We spoke to Elliot Hill, CMO of VeraViews to understand how Gen AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard influence adtech outcomes in the global market.

Here’s the full interview.

Hi, Elliot. Welcome to our Interview Series. Please tell us a little bit about your journey in the ad tech space and your role at VeraViews.

Thank you! I’ve had a long and storied career in advertising, starting my professional life at Haymarket, where I spent over four years and worked alongside our VeraViews Publishing Director, Sandip Ray – another big personality in the space. After Haymarket, I became a Publishing Commercial Lead for National Rail, managing strategy and execution for programmatic sales. During this time, I co-founded the Independent Publishers Alliance, which was born out of a need for transparency and accountability in the publishing space – a passion I’ve brought to VeraViews.

During my previous roles, I’d been exposed to reporting discrepancies, invalid traffic (IVT), and poor campaign performance issues, and I knew all too well how big these are for publishers. The opportunity to transform the transparency standard in programmatic supply chains and lead the fight against ad fraud ultimately led me to VeraViews. Here, my focus is on building out new revenue opportunities and, alongside the team, developing partnerships with SSPs, DSPs, and networks, helping them plug their in-stream video campaigns into our publisher partners’ video supply. It’s a role that continues to evolve as the business grows.

A lot of research is happening on ad fraud identification and prevention. Could you tell us how VeraViews fits into this whole ad fraud identification landscape?

Ad fraud hurts both advertisers and publishers, and we’re on a mission to reverse this problem. We offer an open ledger-based ad tech solution built to prevent ad fraud across online video content through our patented ‘Proof of View’, or ‘PoV’ technology, which essentially adds a purpose-built transparency layer that’s tamper-resistant and auditable. This results in higher campaign ROIs for advertisers and speeds up publisher payments, as advertisers only pay for valid engagement on ad campaigns, and publishers get paid faster because the attribution data is real-time and immutable.

In ad tech, new developments are always coming to the fore. What key ones are you seeing?

One welcome and critical development is that the Government is increasingly aware of online fraud and is beginning to act. Last year, the Online Safety Act became law to crack down on fraudulent ads, especially on social media, to protect consumers. It’s an important first step, but it failed to address ad fraud, particularly in the programmatic supply chain. However, we are seeing the industry take greater responsibility – the growth in interest around the UK Stop Ad Funded Crime (UKSAFC) group being a testament to this – as it’s only through collective action that we can make inroads into reducing this.

What are your core offerings? Please tell us more about your Proof-of-View (PoV) technology.

Our core offering is our ad stack, VeraViews, which is currently tailored to programmatic video advertising and is video player agnostic. We offer a feature-rich campaign management suite for publishers but with the added benefit of our PoV technology. This records ad campaign data in real-time on an open ledger database and is available to all parties in the supply chain but with stringent privacy protections for outside observers. This enables publishers to prove, not just claim, that they prevent invalid traffic on their campaigns — benefiting those committed to reducing ad fraud and sending a clear signal to their advertising partners that they care about invalid traffic.

What part of the advertising supply chain, and which actors, are best suited to benefit from this unique ad tech solution?

By far, publishers are best positioned to make use of our technology. In a highly competitive ecosystem, where advertisers are constantly looking for ways to increase their ROI, the pressure is on publishers to provide quality audiences and impressions free from invalid traffic.

Deploying a transparency solution, such as VeraViews, is a major selling point for publishers looking to assuage their advertising partners’ fears that a large proportion of their inventory is being viewed by bots.

But, it’s important to remember that IVT isn’t just an issue impacting specific elements of the industry. It’s affecting all parts of it – including consumers. That’s why it’s so important the industry unites. We need to continue bringing together the knowledge and data that exists across the supply chain and use this to achieve the shared goal of eliminating ad fraud. By doing this, everyone stands to benefit.

What kind of support and services do you offer to enhance customer lifecycle value and NPS?

​​We operate on the B2B side, but wasted resources and poorly executed advertising have an impact on the end user. Tackling ad fraud at its source is crucial and not just to save advertisers and publishers precious revenues and wasted resources. Ultimately, it impacts consumers further downstream, such as higher costs being passed on. But, it also prevents the threat of a crackdown by lawmakers who face mounting pressure to step in and regulate the programmatic advertising industry.

ChatGPT and Google’s Bard have taken the tech industry by storm. How does VeraViews leverage AI and machine learning technologies in its ad stack?

At VeraViews, AI and ML are at the core of our advertising solutions alongside open ledger technology, and we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

We utilize AI and ML in our ad stack to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our advertising solutions.

These technologies let us analyze large amounts of data from past campaigns to identify patterns, trends, and insights to optimize ad delivery in real-time, adjusting bidding and targeting based on the performance of each ad impression. This improves ad relevance and increases CTRs for advertisers and publishers, which are crucial in today’s competitive advertising landscape.

What’s your take on NFTs, Metaverse, and AR VR technologies in advertising?

As so often happens with emerging technologies, after the original fanfare, there’s a hesitancy today around the Metaverse. But we’re all still learning, and I’m interested in seeing how it develops and opens up new ways in which advertising can evolve.

Already we see users viewing, interacting, and transacting with leading brands that are selling virtual versions of their products to willing buyers. For advertisers, it offers an entirely different experience and product engagement opportunities. And with 520 million active monthly users, it’s a huge market opportunity.

Blockchain technology heralds much promise beyond its uses in our own technology stack. Unique NFTs can deliver new methods of audience engagement and can even assist with retargeting through unique digital gifts and freebies. Meanwhile, the augmentation of online events through technologies such as virtual reality can offer blended immersive experiences, enabling fans to interact with digital avatars of their favorite professional players, buy merchandise, or even reminisce over digital drinks. Essentially, it’s allowing advertisers to break the ‘fourth wall’ and communicate directly with their audience.

What are your views on the future of ad tech-focused automation tools for publishers and brand agencies?

Advertising is a critical part of the UK economy, with digital advertising contributing £129 billion in 2022 alone while supporting two million jobs. But, alongside its rapid growth, there’s this area of advertising that’s spiraling out of control, and that’s fraud.

As such, I believe any automation tool created to serve the industry must be developed and operated to address its ever-growing impact.

Even the best automation tools are meaningless unless they tackle this issue and help support a robust industry response that benefits the advertising industry, consumers, and, ultimately, society.

Also published in: AIThority