The UK’s Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS) – the independent body that defines best practice and standards for online ad trading – confirms that, in mid-December at the IPA, it held the first cross-industry* technical group meeting designed to tackle online ad fraud.
The industry is aiming to publish anti-fraud good practice principles for the UK market in July 2015 and, beyond that, to announce the first companies to be accredited for meeting industry-agreed standards to reduce the risk of fraudulent ads being served.
JICWEBS anticipates making an interim announcement in February updating the industry on the progress in defining the different types of online ad fraud and the appropriate guidelines.
JICWEBS intends to liaise with relevant US industry bodies to produce a complementary anti-fraud framework to the US market, recognising that although local markets have local needs, entities with an international presence require globally-focused standards.
Guy Phillipson, CEO of the IAB UK, said: “Brand safety has never been more important to marketers, especially given the increasingly complex supply chain. It’s our aim to work to minimise ad fraud in the UK as a united industry committee, and, working on the successful Display Trading Standards Group (DTSG) framework, we expect to achieve this through JICWEBS in 2015.”
Bob Wootton, ISBA’s Director of Media and Advertising said: “A recent US study by the Association of National Advertisers 
predicted that online ad fraud could cost advertisers $6.3bn globally in 2015. This is an astronomical sum and the issue has to be dealt with. Fraud seems to have permeated every level of the supply chain, even the premium sites, and is quite rightly a major concern for advertisers that we need to tackle.
The first meeting in December was a technical discussion that has now been reported to JICWEBS. ISBA supports the management of this important area through JICWEBS, thus ensuring the needs of advertisers are foremost.”
*Attendees included ABC, IAB, comScore, Financial Times, Trinity Mirror, Reckitt Benckiser, DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science