WASHINGTON, D.C. MAR. 24 (DPI) – Readers this week expressed little surprise at the latest press reports that a high percentage of online advertising clicks are fraudulent.

A report this weekend in The Wall Street Journal – in effect an update from an excellent article in Sept. 2013, link below — largely confirms what many online advertisers already believe: That a high percentage of online traffic which views and interacts with digital ads derives from malware and “bots” that create the perception of high viewership.

As the Journal reported Sunday, about 36% of all internet traffic is considered fraudulent, the result of computers hijacked by viruses and programmed to visit sites, according to estimates from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a online trade group.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304026304579453253860786362

The WSJ attracted fewer than 20 comments as of Monday afternoon. The highest recommended, with 22 recommendations:

Gee, fraud on the internet …. who would have thought.

Another more helpful comment:

We no longer buy pay-per-click ads. After trying time and time again over the last 10 years we have given up. Here are the problems….
1. The clicks that we get are poor quality and the time on our site is under 20 seconds compared to 3.45 minutes for traffic generated by email or print advertising.

2. Our tracking in Google analytics shows us that in a given day we may pay for 200 clicks, but only see 140 visitors registered on our site. The same happens with Facebook.

3. The cost of clicks has gone up exponentially in the past 10 years – ads that used to cost us 10 cents now cost 3.00

4. The total conversion does not work out on the ROI. We just keep losing money every time we try.

Another:

Companies really need to consider what they pay for. ‘Pay per Click’ isn’t the best way to measure success…conversion is.

More interesting, the WSJ comment board attracted one or two posters who defended the value of online advertising – and who came across as online fraudsters as well:

(Author: “ken hill”): Just like in retail stores, you need to be aware of the problem and take steps to control it. You can’t let the fear of fraud keep you out of the market. Even with fraud it is still a very good idea to be marketing online. The ROI is still pretty good in almost all markets.

This September 2013 article describes the way that sites are set up to foster fraudulent web traffic. Part of the problem stems from the use of online ad brokers and intermediaries who place across a wide number of sites, some of which turn out to have self-generated fraudulent traffic:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303464504579107082064962434

Nevertheless, online advertising is now second only to TV advertising in total market, and it continues to grow 15% to 20% per year. Breakdown of digital ad spending:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304756104579453381558068254