Online Video explodes again shows new data. Television going into freefall.

Europe's online revenue from Ads and Subscriptions through online video is skyrocketing.

It rose +51% in 2013 to 3.2 billion usd and expected to grow +41% in 2014.

In Western Europe Video on demand (VOD) grew +103% alone in 2014. One of the main drivers is ease of access to high end broadband. So the easier it is to connect online, the more online video grows and too, the ease of new devices being available on the high street.

And obviously, Traditional TV is the loser here.

Emarketer have the full report but this is only going way. TV is collapsing, online video is growing. 

That tipping point, where TV becomes irrelevant for viewers and advertisers, is not far off based on these figures.

Indeed in Ireland alone, 200,000 homes have Netflix which is ad free presenting a problem to both TV broadcasters in audience loss and to Advertisers because it's ad free.

It's also clear that Ireland's national broadcaster, RTE, would simply close without the circa 180 million they receive from Government. They cannot exist commercially and their commercial future looks dim as they face greater, better online competitors - who aren't state funded.

Pity that.....

Catherine Donnelly. In peace at 66.

Lutonphobia - the fear of Luton and how to overcome it...launched Ryanair. Powers whiskey short story ads. Table Water for Two....launched Ballygowan. Barry's Tea and the Christmas Train set. And so much more.

The Irish copywriter for generations of followers. And none came close. Rest in Peace.

4 in a series. A truly great series about Advertising in the digital age. Alka Seltzer. These are just great adland.

Here's the original commercial which actually, although legendary, mafia boss of New York Joe Columbo tried to get it banned - because it insulted Italians.

But here's the digital lessons told by Adman.
Great stories that really make sense of digital advertising.

And that Advertising people need to see. 

Here you go....(but go back to the previous Coke, Volvo and Avis posts too). Alka Seltzer. The story.

3 in a series of wonderful lessons in Advertising. Avis. we try harder. Amazing.

A great, great series about Advertising in the digital age that I've been posting over the last few days.

This is Avis by Google.

But you'll see Coke and Volvo as the previous posts. Watch them and be stunned. Admen and Adwoman must see these. Must.

And this is why online is the greatest medium ever.

2 in a series of Advertising lessons in the digital age. Volvo. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

The best thing I have ever seen online.

Here's the original 1962 commercial....

Yesterday's post was Coke, today Volvo re-imagined for a digital age.
Watch the lead video on top and then if you're smitten go to the ones below.

It's really showing Admen the digital way. Beautiful. 

Coke. One of a series showing Admen the digital online way. Stunning. Beautiful. Enthralling. And every other cliche. A must see.

Over the next 4 days I'm going to post these sensational videos from Google. And trust me they are.

It's about taking classic Advertising campaigns from the past (this one is "I'd like to teach the world to sing" for Coke) and see how they can be applied in the digital age.

Although they're older, most haven't seen them and they really are wow. 

It shows Admen (of which I am one) the digital way.
By Admen.

And the lessons as to how digital is Advertising's strengths.
Take the time and you'll be entranced and probably cry.

I did.

Netflix Price Crash? What? In Freefall!

What is happening today to Netflix stock?

Looks like it's down -25% in after hours trading today.

The market is down for sure but a 25% drop? (down another -3% to 28% at time of writing and sliding).

They did report earnings/profit earlier of 59 million usd in Q3 (well up on last year of 32 million) and they also reported a slower than expected growth of subscribers. Revenues of 1.2 Billion versus expected 1.4 Billion.

But 3 million new subscribers up to a staggering 53 million in total albeit, below expectations. The EPS is about half of what was expected. And the market is identifying a cashflow issue.

(HBO also announced today that they are moving into the online streaming space as a standalone in 2015 and will compete with Netflix).

But But But...really - extraordinary profits and growth in subscribers - yet a crash in the stock price? It's in freefall!!!!

There's something up....that's not just in the numbers.....somebody knows something we don't.

(BTW And it has opened this morning on the markets -23% down).

From those wonderful folks who gave us Pearl Harbour.

I was asked for a book that explains Advertising.

Real Advertising - the way it used to be and not the way it is now.
When ideas ruled and when Ad Agencies were more concerned about their work, than their share price.

1970 but it's known as the book than genuinely inspired 'Madmen'. He was 34 when he wrote it and the title comes from a slogan for Japanese brand 'Panasonic' (read it and you'll know why).

His view on the 'Madmen' TV series? "we were wilder, we drank more".
Believe it.

Christmas? No Adland, no.

Somebody just said it's only 11 weeks to Christmas.
No Adland, no. Please.

No online Christmas videos with staff this year.
Just send a card.

Switch 10-25% of your TV Budget to online video. Who said that? Only global Agency Omnicom!

It brings a joy to my heart when I hear an Agency, like giant Omnicom, advising Clients to move 10% to 25% of TV Ad "dollars" to online video.

Here it is in The WSJ if you want to read it in full (not that you wouldn't believe me....)
http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2014/10/06/omnicom-advises-marketers-to-move-10-to-25-of-tv-ad-dollars-to-online-video/?mg=blogs-wsj

Omnicom handles about 54 Billion usd in ad spend for clients like Visa, Apple, Pepsi, McDonald's and are in Dublin as Irish International and Cawley Nea as well as, media specialist OMD.

Not just that, their CEO Daryl Simm says "If you're trying to reach against light TV viewers, the answer is to move a significant amount of the video budget to online video". And he goes on, "There is more talent....entering the online video space. That holds a lot of promise for the online video space".

Of course too, he rightly points out that it's a move or a response to more measured advertising. Digital gets results that are deeply measured. Accountability.

And when you get advisors of this calibre, global advisors, encouraging the switch away from traditional TV, that's more great news for online. Pretty rubbish news for TV broadcasters.

Streamabout too are seeing this explosion to online video in Ireland practically daily. October will be their best month on record after three years beating their last best month - September.

I'm going home to have a beer now. Might have 2.
And say cheers to Daryl Simm. 

Excellent Economist cover. Yet we don't change our website homepages. Why?

At least 10% of sales of magazines are sold on the cover. You see something you like or that interests you and you pick it up. You also know by the cover that it's a new edition.

It's critical to magazine and newspaper sales to "sell off" the cover.

And the current issue of the excellent Economist, has that. Great cover, great design.

What's worth considering is that we don't change our website homepages every month? So that when people re-visit, it looks the same whereas if we did change it, visitors would see it being different, more interesting, more topical. Like magazines, like newspapers.

Even a new front video on your homepage each month?

Is there a lesson here from traditional publishing for digital for once?

Traditional TV can be saved by Digital Media. Look at BBC.

Interesting story in The Sunday Telegraph by way of an interview with Andrew Cave, Head of BBC Worldwide.

Interesting because the BBC is THE quintessential traditional TV broadcaster and yet, in this digital age, they've had to become more commercial. In fact BBC Worldwide with turnovers of 1 Billion Sterling, contributed 174 million stg to the BBC itself - 10% of the content budget - by selling content overseas.

Programmes like Sherlock (224 markets), Doctor Who, Top Gear, Ripper Street and so on. They also licence shows such as Strictly Come Dancing.

So their investment in drama is really paying off with 35% of revenues coming from US broadcasters with their major customers being Netflix and Amazon Prime. 

So what you see is something of a switch away from creating programmes for themselves into selling programmes for digital. In fact, you'll see BBC Worldwide creating programmes not for broadcast on BBC but to re-sell under their quality brand.

They're becoming commercial content makers in a serious way through embracing digital media rather than being protective of it.

And that's the future for traditional broadcasters. Rather than create content to show, create content to sell. It's a different focus but digital media are opening up a market that's hungry for content.

Joan Rivers is alive and promoting the Iphone 6?

The problem with sponsored and pre-scheduled Social Media posts or Tweets, is that you need to keep an eye on them.

The much heralded Apple Iphone 6/U2 Album launch of last week, had sponsored, scheduled posts as part of its marketing drive.

One, from none other, than Joan Rivers.

The late, departed Joan Rivers that is. In fact, late, departed two weeks before the launch.

But that didn't stop her because on the day, she said she thought it was a 'great product". Indeed.

Prompting of course, a response. You get the picture.
Bad Apple.

Chris Burke @chrisburke

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Joan Rivers talking about the iPhone 6... Maybe The Cloud is more than we think. pic.twitter.com/K8w3XLiJsR

1:19 PM - 19 Sep 2014

Dan Dryden @DanDryden

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Well if the iPhone 6 is good enough for Joan Rivers from beyond the grave, it's good enough for me. ;-)

6:18 PM - 19 Sep 2014

Merry Morud @MerryMorud

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#D’OH > The late #JoanRivers promotes #iPhone6 from beyond the grave. Steve Jobs could not be reached for comment http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/19/joan-rivers-iphone-6-facebook-instagram/ …

5:39 PM - 19 Sep 2014

Scotland goes to the polls. Newspapers fiddle. Rome "burns".

Very interesting piece on Mashable, given the day that's in it when Scotland goes to the polls, to examine the newspaper front pages today.

There's something beautiful about the design of 'The Guardian'; The 'Scottish Daily Mail' pins its colours to the mast; FT takes a more objective view; 'The Telegraph' (my paper of the decade) gets its readers right; 'The Sun' walks the line; 'The Mirror' doesn't and 'The Independent' looks great but says nothing.... Or something about democracy and the rest of the world....

Interesting though.

It'll be a Yes. 

No doubt about it. 

As Robbie Burns himself, once said.

(day after and I got that wrong! astonishing because I was never so sure of it and I cover/watch a lot of it. There you go)

Love this go at Apple by Samsung. Simple.

Love this go at Apple by Samsung.

Nice strong simple idea, little need for major production extravaganza or of spend. But good to have a go and good to get out next day using online video.

Makes you smile.

U2 New Album. It's free.

U2's new Album, 'Songs of Innocence' was released at The Apple Event with CEO Tim Cook. What's different about it is that immediately it went free to every itunes customer (500m) immediately.

Which is the largest album release of all time. Obviously.

It's on Itunes Radio and Beats music too but I've tried to find it and frankly, can't. But it's there.

And it's one hell of a promotion!
(but pretty hackneyed launch if you ask me.....)

New BusinessInsider Report. Video Ads replacing TV.

Video Ads are growing faster than any other medium according to a new report from the reliable BusinessInsider. It is exploding.

Not only that, they're replacing TV and have the highest click-thru than any other digital format.

As TV declines by circa -3%, Video Ads are growing +100% year-on-year and will reach 5 Billion usd by 2016 (from 2.8 Billion in 2013).

That's much faster than any other form of digital display as the medium attracts more advertisers. Programmatic buying, RTB is also driving their usage and viewability as well as new video platforms.

This is simply part of a story of an ongoing trend that sees Video online becoming the new advertising driver. They're becoming easier to find (YouTube is the second biggest Search engine after Google), easier to share and more engaging than a traditional 30 seconds of TV commercials. 

They're also much lower cost delivering a full mediaplan significantly (-70%) less than a TV expenditure and delivering higher audiences with full analytics regarding reach/frequency.

They do more, for less.

You'll get the report here 
http://www.businessinsider.com/digital-video-advertising-performance-and-growth-trends-2014-8?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=emailshare

But you'll get video ads from Streamabout.

Twitter, Ferguson and the future of News.

The USA Ferguson riots again highlight the role of Social Media, notably Twitter, in news.

The news of the shooting first appeared on Twitter, long before any Media arrived and was well tweeted before any coverage. Equally too, people shared pics and video of armed police, tear gas and so on, assuming the role of traditional TV news. In fact, Social Media activity became the news story in itself.

A greater proportion of black people use Twitter than white with some 22% of African Americans on Twitter according to The FT. This shoots to 40% of 18-29 year old African Americans versus 28% of young white people and Jack Dorsey (twitter founder) was a presence at the protests.

He in turn used his Social Media to further the stories and the images.

Interesting too, that law enforcement were slow to get behind the Twitter stories and to utilise it for themselves. When you don't, you lose control of the story and they did.

The use of Social Media in news is now so prevalent that it's hard to see the traditional provision of news crews at scenes with reporters, as adding anything to the story. They even get there late, compared to the immediacy of Social Media.

Perhaps we need to re-think that?
Perhaps what's needed is an army of Twitterers available to report reliably and immediately for news.

Ferguson has shown us that we are moving into a new game.

RTB Ad Exchange valued at 1.2 Billion. This is the future.

RTB or Real Time Bidding, is really hotting up.

Basically it's an Ad Exchange that allows Advertising buyers (Agencies/Clients) buy online media from sellers (Media owners) in real time through a bidding or "auction" system.

APPNexus, the New York firm, has already raised 200 million usd in investment and just closed another late funding round giving it a valuation of 1.2 Billion usd. That's nearly doubled the company's value since Jan 2013.

30 Billion Ads are sold on APPNexus every single day.....and it's profitable. It estimates it will do 2 Billion usd in transactions this year and revenues of over 130 million usd. Pretty staggering and very mobile focused.

It also means that media companies are becoming very investor friendly and Wall Street opportune - they weren't always - because what they're doing is automating old world transactions and making them better. That's the key difference for good online businesses.

RTB is a better, more accurate, transparent way of buying space. It also moves the Agency Commission model away (no bad thing) into wholesale rates for media which are then charged on to clients so the opportunity to generate higher margins is easier.

However, the Internet experience is clearly one which cuts out the middleman whether they be booksellers, music stores or eh, Advertising Agencies. Clients will now have another option to train their staff to buy their own advertising online. And some are.

Video is another. As the online digital market rises and Clients create good video content, they need to place it. RTB is the way and Streamabout do that every day of the week

Russian PM gets his twitter hacked. Funny.

Lovely bit of hacking it has to be said.....

Russia's PM Dmitry Medvedev had his Twitter Account hacked and a bit of fun was had by all. 

You have to understand that his official account is well followed by journalists and government because it's considered reliable.

The first tweet was 'Crimea is not ours. Please retweet'.

The second announced that he was "resigning to become a freelance photographer". 

Which prompted the Russian Government to issue a statement saying that he actually wasn't going to be a freelance photographer and that it was false. Funny.

The denial actually appeared on Bloomberg.

Just goes to show, don't believe all you hear on the Web.

300 million views, over 6 million shares. The most shared Ad of all time.

The most shared Ad of all time. Shakira for Activia, knocking VW off the leaderboard.

Produced on May 22nd, before the World Cup with a World Cup theme, it has been shared over 6 million times and this clip alone on YouTube has 265 MILLION Views. Plus the clip is on so many times on YouTube it probably counts for another 50 million views and it's on Vimeo and other video sharers. That's staggering.

Fantastic for The Activia brand (on which I worked) and fantastic for Shakira. After that...well it's okay, not the greatest video I've ever seen but hey, who can knock it.

And yet again, we see the power of online advertising. How many years would it take TV to reach those views? Never. And oh, you can't share on TV either. Yet the only cost here was the production because video sharing sites are free. And then when a friend shares a video with a friend, it's more personal, more powerful than any Advertising.

Brilliant so.

The Facebook Buy Button. This changes everything utterly.

Facebook are trialling a 'buy' button and unleashing one of the great secrets of advertising - how much does it impact on sales?

What they're looking at is the direct correlation between ads on its network and actual purchase and importantly too, it combats fraud because bots can't buy products. 

Equally too, it allows them to open a whole new media universe, selling advertising directly on the basis of return on investment. In other words, no need to buy media space as such but rather, buy sales.

Walmart 'back to school' Facebook advertising resulted in a 16 times return on that Ad spend.

That's a revolution.

Already in a trial with 20 retailers, they found that sales rose +2% via Facebook Ads and what's more important, an 8 times average return on the amount spent on advertising. Which makes Facebook advertising a no-brainer because if you were guaranteed that return on sales, you'd advertise more.

And of course, there's an element of those who see the Ads and don't buy online but buy in-store. Retail is a massive advertising segment about 11% of online advertising.

The Buy button also allows Facebook keep payment details so allowing customers easy, one click ecommerce. 

It's getting there and this according to the excellent Financial Times so it's reliably informed.

If this works, it really will change things utterly.

Hard for other media to compete with guaranteed sales V advertising and hard, impossible, for advertisers to ignore.

It changes the face of advertising totally.
In effect, it's almost up there with the second secret of Fatima

Newspaper online Revenues have turned the corner. Great results oh ye of little faith.....

Interesting data which is beginning to show that the losses in revenues predicted for newspaper publishers by digital, isn't happening. Or at least, it's not happening for those titles who embrace digital.

Locally, recent figures for Independent News and Media are showing strong growth in Internet revenues. Hardly surprising because of the way in which they've embraced it. A surge of over +17% in digital revenues.

But the Uk's Financial Times (FT) have shown operating profits of 55 million stg. That's UP +17%. The Telegraph achieved a 4.6m increase to 61 million stg. The Independent have reduced loses from 17 million to 12 million - a 5 million positive uplift.

The Guardian and The Observer showed an increase in digital revenues of +24 million to 69 million. 

Further afield, The New York Times now has 760,000 subscribers to its digital paywall and their stock is hitting new highs. Highs!

Jobs Ads are beginning to return and in particularly, a rise in lucrative property advertising - both ideal for greater online returns. 

So the picture for online newspapers is looking brighter and they'll gain too through the ongoing flight of advertisers away from traditional TV. That's the Holy Grail because TV was the place for big advertisers with big budgets.

Whilst online revenues generally aren't compensating for losses in print cover prices and print advertising, clearly for some, that process has started. We've reached the tipping point.

Online Newspapers through promoting story links on Social Media, are gaining audiences and that is the fundamental. If you have the audience, the advertising must follow. 

Oh ye, of little faith.

Video Ads exploding at the cost of TV. That's not me saying it, but a new BusinessInsider Report.

Online video Advertising is growing faster than most other mediums (!) and other digital formats.

That's not me or Streamabout saying it, but a new BusinessInsider Report. They estimate video advertising revenue will grow by nearly 20% year-on-year through to 2016 anyway.

The only growth as fast, is mobile.

Total Revenue will be circa 5 billion usd in 2016 from 2.8 billion now. And that money will come from? TV

Equally too, as a consequence, more video placements are, and will, open up, reducing media costs. We know too that video ads have the highest click through rate (CTR) at 2% so they deliver value, if you get the views.

The point is not just producing digital video, but what you do with it afterwards - something that companies like Streamabout are offering. It's becoming campaignable rather than 'one offs' and that's key.

Video Ads are more engaging too, longer and better than any TV Commercial and with the benefit of direct targeting as well as digital analytics.

After all, when did you last click a TV Commercial.

Facebook buys Video Ad platform LiveRail. Details undisclosed (but it was 400-500 million). Yippee for Streamabout!

So Facebook is still on the acquisition trail.

It's just agreed to buy Liverail, a video ad advertising service with the dreadful logo.

Started in 2007, it had revenues of 100 million usd last year and what it does is bring video ads to market. 

Exactly as Streamabout does - creation of video and placement.

There had been talk of Liverail going for an IPO this year but that's clearly off the table. Facebook too had been building video ad platforms to sell into its own customer base but that too has resulted in the acquisition.

Facebook in essence has bought a video ad platform with revenue.

And that's the problem - being both a buyer and seller of advertising. 

If Liverail now are owned by Facebook, then presumably they'll push more ads onto Facebook or at least, have a conflict of interest. Perhaps that cuts across their whole independence but then, if you're buying impressions do you care? Probably not.

Other publishers, the former clients of Liverail, may not be too pleased either. 

Details weren't disclosed but I heard in the pub (ie on good authority) it was 400-500 million usd. Not bad for a 7 year old business.

And another good day for Digital Online Video. Like us.

Aereo loses, TV wins. Isn't this a bit like Napster?

So the US Supreme Court, on a 6:3 majority only, have ruled that Aereo is illegal. It reverses a lower court decision in favour of Aereo on appeal.

Aereo, as you'll note in other blog posts here, was the online re-broadcaster of TV stations content based on a 8/10 Dollar monthly subscription.

Had the ruling gone the other way (in favour of Aereo) it could have spelt the end of TV.

This is potentially a fatal blow to the online service. 

The problem was copyright violation and the fact that Aereo, by supplying some kit (an aerial etc), it was something different than simply "re broadcasting". Almost like a Video recorded function which was a key Aereo argument.

After all, video recorders re-broadcast content?

Anyway, losing means losing big.

For Aereo to survive now, it will now have to negotiate fees with those broadcasters who've been through court against them. And then, probably at a prohibitive price.....if at all. I don't think they'd even enter the conversation.

It does not affect the likes of Netflix or other streaming services. Equally it won't affect cloud services which store copyrighted content.

I have to say it reminded me of the whole furore over Sean Parker's Napster. It was the fastest growing business one-time with music downloads which the court shut-down.

And then along came Itunes and Parker returned with Spotify. Today he's worth circa 2 Billion usd.

So perhaps Aereo lost today and TV won. But then, perhaps it's only a matter of time......

Yahoo Prime View. They're charging for Ads that are seen. Viewer guaranteed.

Nice advertising innovation from Yahoo! Ads.

They're going to charge a premium for Ads which viewers see. 

Sounds ridiculous? 

Well, it isn't because in some cases, Ads are buried on pages or just don't load. So they're not seen.

Hence Yahoo! Ads will come with a viewable-only guarantee if you book advertising directly with them in the US.

But...it's only on premium desktop at the minute and not mobile.

They've called it 'Prime View' and it overcomes the issue of Ads not being seen - 54% on average according to 'ComScore'.

This "viewability" guarantee as it's called, does however point to the amount of Ad inventory that's not being seen at all and hence the need for this type of innovation.

Advertisers will want this however and will pay a premium (Yahoo charge more for Prime) for viewed advertising stock with that guarantee. 

It's better than simply advertising blind or worse....advertising that no one sees. But somehow it's all a bit strange.......

Nielsen/BusinessInsider Report on the decline of TV. Especially amongst males 18-24. Time for Digital.....

Important piece in BusinessInsider (again!) about what they call, 'Millennial Males'. In effect, that younger, highly lucrative, Males aged 18-24.

They're a crucial demographic because they've high levels of discretionary spend. Which they use on beer, nights out, clothing, drinks, save a bit, perhaps start their first mortgage.....

But according to Nielsen, their TV viewing has slumped, more than any other demographic.

And because of that, Advertisers are switching to digital to reach them by increasing their marketing spends online (from TV) by up to +30%.

Consequently the reach to this demographic, increased by +11% when they did.

So if you try to reach them on TV, as the report says, "you're spending too much on TV" because that's where they're not, more and more.

But I would go further.

Whatever about the numbers in the decline of TV, the level of engagement and potential for click-through action, only exists online. You can talk to them far better through a digital online video than a 30 second TV commercial anyway.

Perhaps I'm bound to say that but I can say that the effectiveness of simply using a TV commercial cut-down is practically....nil.

Online Digital Video. It's growing. 19% year on year.

New BusinessInsider Reports that Digital Video Advertising is growing faster than all other online formats, except mobile.

They predict it will grow at 19% per year compound through to 2016. Traditional online display is growing at circa 3%.

Online video revenue is currently circa 3 billion and that will double to 6 Billion by 2016 and video ads have the highest click-thru of any digital format at circa 2%. So they're more effective because simply, if you watch a 2 minute video, you're more likely to be engaged and want to follow-up.

It generally supports all the other reports and opinions that the Internet is all about video. Viewers like them, publishers like them, advertisers like them and they have the real potential for sharing.

In fact, not having digital video as part of a campaign, is becoming a conspicuous gap. It's almost becoming standard.

They're easy to get done, inexpensive and engaging. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry but it's an opportunity for storytelling that's missed on a 30 second TV commercial. In fact, it's the freedom of space that every Ad Agency creative has always wanted.

But one thing is for sure....if you haven't got an online video, you've no chance of it being seen.

Dr. Dre's online digital video for The World Cup. 5 minutes long, 7 million views and Wow!

We are going to be covered in World Cup spots. TV spots. 

And this one will be hard to 'beat'.

At 5 minutes long, it's really a digital video with over 7 million views already. That's the power of online video....do it well and you've no media cost to reach a massive audience AND they'll watch/engage for 5 minutes (=10 TV commercials average length).

"The game before the game" features on Brazilian star (home audience and of course, Brazil open the tournament) Neymar who's talking to his dad by phone. But in it, are also Germany's Gotze, Mexico's Chicharito, Lil Wayne, Serena Williams and others.

Filmed and Edited in 6 weeks, it's intimate in that it features on the pre-game ritual and we've all seen stars before matches with headphones on. Good idea.

It's more of a music video than a football video but beautifully shot by Nabil Elderkin and behind every good video there's a good concept.

It doesn't get better than this. 

Online bot fraud. And why it isn't.

There's a lot of nonsense being talked about by the defenders of traditional media against digital media. These are notably large TV broadcasters and stories appear in the magazine 'gospels', which are very much on Advertising's traditional side.

They cannot grasp that the world has changed and so find it hard to even contemplate, that digital media is winning.

Currently, they talk on and on and on about robot or 'bot' fraud.

This is where fraudsters use automated traffic to click, or view, online Ads as if they were humans, so as to generate fake cpm or ppc revenue. In other words, to charge advertisers for visitors which are in effect, computer viruses and not real traffic. Advertisers want to reach people, not automated, worthless clicks but, the argument goes, that's what they're getting.

'30% of all internet traffic is fake' screams one headline.

There's no doubt that these robots are sophisticated and mimic real human behaviour so as to avoid detection by equally sophisticated anti-fraud software. 

One Advertising 'bible' actually showed how these bots behave over an image of The New York Times....and then later, of course, said it didn't happen on The New York Times, it was just an 'example'. Like, 'Beware!' cause one day it might!

A fairly damaging 'example' I'd have thought.

Estimates of the costs of these fake Ads vary depending on the need for a panicy headline range from 7 million dollars a month to web security firm 'White Ops' saying 6 billion a year (but that's okay, cause 'White Ops' have the solution for you). 

Headline Money like that, certainly gets attention and creates panic. Maybe we should re-think digital? And move back to the good old reliable traditionals? Or so the story goes.

Online traffic fraud exists, there's no doubt - as does traditional advertising fraud. How often did traditional advertisers in the past depend on meaningless magazine 'publishers statements' or supposed 'print runs'? Or dubious 'bulking'?

Remember too, online fraud can be human as well - we all know about the ability to buy nonsensical Facebook 'likes' for example.

Online bot fraud depends on one of two things - a fraudulent traffic seller and/or a fraudulent web site owner. Mostly, both are complicit.

The fraudulent traffic seller is selling a network of "visitors" when in fact, they're probably bot infected PC's. The fraudulent website owner is selling you traffic based on fraudulent impressions generated by fake bots.

No media planner or buyer worth their salt are buying either. And if they are, knowing all about bots, then it's time for a change.

When you see a site like www.stuart'sfabcats.com generating 1 million impressions a day, chances are, they're fake. Or a seller in a basement selling massive traffic on a blind network, you're in trouble there too.

Trust in your digital buyer and the sites you're buying is key. Just as it is with traditional media. And to try to "expose" the whole medium as being fake because of some fraud, when you know people have a brain in their head in the business, is well, just what it's intended to be.

A ludicrous propaganda aimed at an advertising medium that's winning. Because it's better.