The online advertising industry has witnessed the emergence of “invisible enemies” that pass themselves off as regular online users – the infamous bots. This network of zombie users has become a serious headache for businesses and this is reflected in recent data. According to a recent study, advertisers worldwide look set to lose $6.3 billion dollars per year (roughly €5.7 million) due to these scammers that try to imitate human behavior.
The investigation also signaled that 23% of all advertising video views and 11% of clicks on advertisements were carried out by botnets. This detail is harmful to the advertisers, as it implies that they are paying in order to artificially inflate page clicks and video views, which results in their campaigns losing credibility.
