Partnerize Senior Business Development Director in APAC, Dan Keegan has just had a byline published in The Drum. HIs article covers ways leveraging naturally transparent channels like partner marketing can help brands stay one step ahead of fraudsters.

Here is an excerpt from Dan’s article that appeared in the Drum:

By 2022, mobile advertising fraud will cost advertisers $87 billion, rising from $34 billion in 2018. At present, an astounding half of that fraud ($19 billion last year) is happening in APAC. While these figures are alarming, they shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. In South East Asia in particular, the market dynamics are highly inviting to fraudsters.

According to eMarketer, all markets in South East Asia saw the mobile ad spend grow by more than 50% in 2018. At the same time, mobile penetration rates are on the upswing as well in countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and others, while other countries represent already-mature mobile markets. In other words, more devices attract higher ad spend, and higher ad spend attracts more bad actors looking for an ill-gotten share of the action.

Of course, none of this means that marketers in South East Asia need to resign themselves to escalating losses and inefficiencies within their digital ad spends. There are measures that can be taken to protect investments and transparent channels that are less likely to fall prey to ad fraud. Let’s take a look at some of these safeguards.

Leaning on partnerships

Partner and affiliate marketing represent one major venue that fraud-averse advertisers should consider as they look to safeguard their investments. Because partner and affiliate campaigns are only paid on verified purchases, the incidence of fraud is lower than in channels that incentivise softer metrics like impressions and clicks.

That doesn’t mean that the partner and affiliate space is immune to bad actors. Quite the contrary. As these channels continue to account for a growing share of the revenue for today’s brands, interest in gaming the system will only increase. Therefore, it’s essential for marketers to get ahead of the challenge and implement proper safeguards within their partner efforts to ensure results aren’t tainted by fraud. What follows are some basic guidelines for ensuring profitable and protected partnerships.

Be smart about your data

As with all marketing channels, partnerships need to be held accountable. Establishing strong data flows with partners and ensuring regular monitoring of incoming information is vital to detecting any anomalies or vulnerabilities within your program before they get out of hand. Data discrepancies and variances don’t necessarily mean there’s fraud in your partner ecosystem, but it will indicate where further investigation is warranted.

Big variances in your program’s major metrics will almost always warrant a closer look. For example, abnormally low publisher conversion rates could be a sign of click fraud within CPC campaigns. Likewise, abnormally high publisher conversion rates can be a sign of creative fraud, in which ad units have been modified to promise appealing but unauthorized deals that will ultimately not be honoured and, thus, disappoint customers.

Read the rest of the article in The Drum.