Internet Advertisers Beware the 'Invisible Ad' Deception

If you advertise on the Web, pay attention to what Ben Edelman is warning.

Edelman, a Harvard Business School professor, has hipped advertisers to a number of schemes run by disreputable advertising firms and brokers.

Here's one: The invisible ad.

As he explains to the Economic Times in a story about digital advertising scams:

"Here's a common example of a real advertising scam. Advertisers buy display advertisements or banner ads on websites and it's very important for viewers to see the ad. Many times the advertiser pays each time the ad is seen (pay per impression). But what if the ad was shown in an invisible window, where the ad is not seen by the viewer? I have come across websites with more than 100 invisible windows downloading invisible ads and charging advertisers as if the user had seen the ad. Think about what that means. The site might actually show three visible ads but charge for showing 103 ads. As a result the site gets paid several times more than they deserve. Think about a scenario where an advertiser pays per impression, and the site actually shows a million impressions. If the advertisers think that their ads were seen by a million people, they're sadly mistaken."

Do you advertise on the Web? How do you know your advertising partner is reporting back the correct numbers?