Click Fraud Rate Drops to 19.1% in Q4 2010

The overall industry average click fraud rate was 19.1%, Click Forensics reports. That's lower than the 22.3% reported for Q3 2010, but higher than the 15.3% reported for Q4 2009. In Q4 2010, the countries outside North America producing the greatest volume of click fraud were Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden and France, respectively.

Driving at least some of this activity is a new malware scheme targeting display banner ads, according to the Click Forensics Malware Lab. The sophisticated program performs a pop-up or pop-under and rotates brand advertisers’ banner ads every 10-15 min in an effort to seemingly boost impression figures, it said.

Marketers Have Limited Social Media Understanding

Seven in 10 marketing professionals either have very little to no understanding (31%) about relevant social media conversations around their brand or clients' brands, or use a few ad-hoc tools (39%), according to a new survey from Alterian. The remainder report regularly to management. Alterian analysis indicates the majority do look to improve their level of understanding about these conversations and redirect their social media monitoring strategy to improve awareness and engagement.