From fraud to fairness – Part 1: Can blockchain save digital advertising?

Digital advertising is not without its pitfalls; it is fraught with challenges like ad fraud (click farms, bots, domain spoofing, etc.), and the lack of transparency. The emergence of blockchain technology has the potential to significantly impact the digital advertising industry by addressing these challenges and providing transparency, security, and efficiency. Blockchain technology is increasingly considered a game-changer for digital advertising.

Blockchain technology offers advertisers several advantages. One key benefit is increased visibility into ad spending, enabling advertisers to track their investment from the initial impression to the final conversion. This transparency helps identify and eliminate wasteful spending, including issues like ad fraud or placements on irrelevant websites. Additionally, blockchain enhances campaign measurement by providing more accurate data on ad impressions, clicks, and conversions. Real-time reporting capabilities empower advertisers to make timely adjustments, particularly beneficial for time-sensitive campaigns. Furthermore, blockchain supports stronger brand safety by ensuring ads align with the advertiser’s standards, guarding against reputational damage.

Blockchain allows digital advertisers to stay ahead of the curve with features like 100% transparency, trust, real-time ads tracking, data reliability, users’ privacy rights, and a lot more next-level benefits, says Dr Ravi Chamria, Co-Founder & CEO, Zeeve.

For example, he says, in an advertising campaign, the blockchain technology will allow you to:

• Record advertising-related data into blockchain’s tamper-proof ledger.
• Utilise real-time data aggregation to effectively measure campaign’s performance.
• Identify ad fraud through effective ads tracking enabled through end-to-end transparency.
• Dive deeper into users’ interactions with your ad campaigns, understanding their interest for ads.

According to Tej Naidu Kota, Business Head, PAD, the primary benefits of blockchain technology in advertising are:

• Transparent and trust:Blockchain acts as a shared, tamper-proof database, recording every ad impression, click, and transaction chronologically. This transparency gives advertisers and publishers a clear picture of campaign performance, eliminating trust issues and disputes.
• Prevent fraud:The immutability of blockchain records makes it incredibly difficult to create fake bots or inflate ad views. Every interaction is meticulously documented, making fraudulent activity readily identifiable and traceable.
• No data breaches:Secure tokenization allows sensitive user data to be shared without revealing personal details. This fosters collaboration between advertisers and publishers while safeguarding user privacy.
• Ad targeting:With blockchain-powered platforms, you can deliver personalised ads to your targeted audience. With blockchain, we have the ability to create highly targeted advertising campaigns that are more relevant and effective compared to generic campaigns. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of conversions.
• Affiliate marketing:Trust and transparency are the backbone of affiliate marketing. By automating payment processes and tracking conversions transparently, blockchain makes affiliate marketing easy.
• Securing the digital marketing assets:Secure and transparent nature, blockchain ensures that digital marketing assets are safe from pirates and copycats.

Overall, adds Tej Naidu Kota, blockchain’s potential to overhaul the digital advertising industry is significant. According to Kota, the benefits of this technology are:

• Increased ad spending: Greater trust and transparency will encourage advertisers to invest more in digital campaigns.
• Improved ROI: Precise targeting and reduced fraud will lead to better overall campaign performance and return on investment.
• Empowered consumers: Users will have more control over their data and receive relevant ads, improving the overall user experience.

Enhancing transparency

The lack of transparency has been a significant issue in digital advertising. Blockchain enhances transparency in the ad ecosystem, with tangible benefits bringing to advertisers in terms of tracking ad performance.

Because blockchain is decentralised, every impression, click, and other activity of an advertising campaign is recorded in a ledger, which cannot be altered later, points out Dr Ravi Chamria.

Plus, Chamria adds, you get real-time insight of what ads are getting served to what audience. According to him, in contrast to a centralised approach where a single person or administrator oversees an entire campaign, blockchain employs a decentralized network. Multiple nodes, distributed across various geographical locations, collectively bear the responsibility of accessing and verifying the campaign data.

In terms of ad tracking, Chamria lists out some of the main benefits blockchain can offer as:

• More precise audience targeting:It allows advertisers to see and ensure if they are targeting the right audience.
• Real-time insights: They can track every interaction with their ads, effectively eliminating the possibility of fraud.
• Easy and quick verification of data: Authenticity of data can be easily verified through information preserved in a distributed ledger.
• Overcoming bots: Advertisers can prevent issues like fake clicks and impressions coming from bots.

According to Tej Naidu Kota, there are several benefits to advertisers in terms of tracking ad performance, which includes the following:

• Increased visibility into ad spending:Advertisers can see exactly where their ad dollars are going, from the initial impression to the final conversion. This can help them identify and eliminate wasteful spending, such as ad fraud or ad placements on irrelevant websites.
• Improved campaign measurement:Blockchain can provide more accurate data on ad impressions, clicks, and conversions. This can help advertisers to better understand how their campaigns are performing and make more informed optimization decisions.
• Enhanced fraud prevention:Blockchain’s immutability makes it difficult to commit ad fraud. Any attempt to tamper with the ad data would be immediately visible to all participants in the network.
• Real-time reporting:Advertisers can get real-time insights into their campaign performance, which can help them make adjustments on the fly. This can be especially beneficial for time-sensitive campaigns.
• Stronger brand safety:Blockchain can help to ensure that ads are only placed on websites that meet the advertiser’s brand-safety standards. This can help to protect advertisers from reputational damage.
• Reduced reliance on intermediaries:Blockchain can help to eliminate the need for some intermediaries in the ad ecosystem, such as ad exchanges and data aggregators. This can reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Tej Naidu Kota further lists some additional specific benefits that blockchain can bring to advertisers in terms of tracking ad performance. They are:

Attribution: Blockchain can help to accurately attribute conversions to specific ad impressions. This can be difficult in the current ad ecosystem, where multiple touchpoints can be involved in the customer journey.

Targeting: Blockchain can be used to create more targeted ad campaigns by providing advertisers with more granular data about their audience. This can help to improve the effectiveness of ad campaigns and reduce wasted spending.

Retargeting: Blockchain can be used to retarget users who have shown interest in a product or service, which is effective in increasing conversions.

(Tomorrow: Part 2 of this report will delve into the influence of blockchain technology on ad fraud. It will include case studies illustrating its impact and explore strategies for establishing trust with consumers. Stay tuned for an in-depth exploration of these critical aspects.)