Injected advertisements — where online ads are not delivered by the publisher of the web page that a user is visiting but rather by software residing on their machine — is a complex issue. At DoubleVerify we believe that injected ads are generally harmful for publishers and the industry overall.

Typically this type of user software is installed surreptitiously, without disclosing the implications to the end user. While this practice may not be technically fraudulent or illegal, it is clearly inappropriate and its use by the consumer often violates the publisher’s Terms of Service. Further, it isn’t legitimate for the sellers of ads to misrepresent the source of the available inventory and it’s harmful to the publisher that their inventory is being co-opted through these evasive channels (i.e., injected ads via software downloads to a consumer visiting YouTube.com and representing it in buying channels as “YouTube inventory” is clearly misleading). The sellers of injected ad inventory should be required to fully disclose that the impressions they are delivering are not a resale of the publisher’s own inventory, but are instead injected ads that overlay the browser.

At DV, our company is keenly addressing this practice in several ways:

1) We are actively involved in industry-leading initiatives to bring more transparency and accountability to digital media. As such, we are the co-lead of the Traffic of Good Intent Task Force at the IAB, which is addressing all types of ad fraud, including injected ads, to define industry-wide solutions that benefit both buyers and sellers. While still in its early stages, we are encouraging the TOGI scope group to include Injected Ads as part of the Quality Assurance Guidelines, given the defined goals of the QAG program:

• Support the information needs of advertising buyers
• Define a common framework of disclosures that sellers can use across the industry
• Offer clear language that enables buyers to make informed decisions
• Review compliance and facilitate the resolution of disputes and complaints.

2) DoubleVerify’s dedicated Ad Fraud Lab combines proven technology, experience and human insights to identify and prevent all fraudulent activity across digital media. Our fraud protection services, with full MRC accreditation, are continuously learning, as “bad actors” surface time and time again to manipulate the ecosystem.

3) DoubleVerify is committed to providing maximum transparency to advertisers about the impressions served on their campaigns. We are developing a new technique to more accurately detect on an individual impression basis when an ad impression is the result of an injection process instead of being initiated by the web page publisher, and are working to roll this out to all our clients by year’s end.

While we applaud companies for bringing this latest ad injection issue to light, at DV it is our mission to create scalable solutions that serve to close the transparency gaps in digital advertising. Together, we can help build a better industry.