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Click-fraud is on the rise, and confidence in pay-per-click advertising may be slipping, a new report claims.
A recent investigation (via MarketingVOX) by BusinessWeek found that the occurrence of click-fraud is growing, with a “thriving click-fraud underground populated by swarms of small-time players, making detection difficult. ‘Paid to read’ rings with hundreds or thousands of members each, all of them pressing PC mice over and over in living rooms and dens around the world.”
This week, major online advertisers, including Expedia.com and LendingTree, are expected to go public with their concern over click fraud, according to the article. They plan to form a group to share information and pressure Google and Yahoo to be more forthcoming.
“Participants from Kentucky to China speak of making from $25 to several thousand dollars a month apiece, cash they wouldn’t receive if Google and Yahoo were as successful at blocking fraud as they claim,” Business Week writes.
Google and Yahoo both say they can detect most fraudulent clicks and refund advertisers for their losses. BusinessWeek claims that most academics and consultants who study online advertising estimate that 10-15 percent of ad clicks are fake, representing roughly $1 billion in annual billings.
In commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington and the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, Clear Channel has 38 local stations nationwide collaborating on a radiothon on Thursday, Aug. 28.
The radiothon, in conjunction with the Washington,…
The popular evangelical pastor Rick Warren - author of The Purpose-Driven Life - is said to be in talks with Reader’s Digest Association about a magazine, possibly called Purpose.
Of the magazine, editor Joe Treen, former editor at People and…
A study of the Obama Campaign’s text messaging efforts has revealed that as many as half of the people who subscribed to receive a text message announcing Obama’s vice presidential running mate may not have received the message.
The broadcast nets will finish the summer up from last year in terms of ratings, with the Big Four up a total of 17 percent in total viewers, and up 10 percent in 18-49s, mostly thanks to NBC’s airing of…
The Onion has launched a local site that will provide event listings and restaurant information for Chicago - in essence, a competitor to CitySearch.
More cities will be unveiled in coming months, writes TechCrunch.
The site, Decider, is a “straight” site, without…
The paper catalog is still the largest revenue generator - nearly 50% of sales in both 2007 and 2008 - among all channels used by companies that sell goods to consumers and businesses from a remote location, though web sales…
