The data reflects marketer perception of fraud exposure across major digital ad formats.
It highlights where advertisers believe risk is most concentrated today.
This insight helps guide budget protection and verification investments.

Essential Statistics

• 60 percent of respondents say social media is the most vulnerable to ad fraud.
• 29 percent identify digital display as highly vulnerable.
• 22 percent cite mobile advertising as a major fraud risk.
• 22 percent also flag digital video as vulnerable.
• Social media leads fraud concern by a wide margin.

Key Takeaways

• Social media advertising is perceived as the highest fraud risk channel.
• Display advertising remains a significant area of concern.
• Mobile and video ads carry similar perceived fraud exposure.
• Fraud risk perception is uneven across channels.
• Advertisers are most wary of high-volume impression environments.

Actionable Insights

• Increase fraud monitoring on social media campaigns. With the majority of marketers flagging social as highest risk, stronger verification and placement controls are critical.
• Apply stricter traffic quality filters to display ads. Display remains a common fraud vector and benefits from tighter audience and site exclusions.
• Audit mobile and video inventory sources regularly. Equal concern across these formats suggests ongoing risk even as spend shifts toward them.
• Align fraud prevention spend with risk perception. Budgets should reflect where marketers see the greatest exposure rather than spreading controls evenly.
• Use third-party verification tools for high-scale campaigns. As volume increases, so does fraud risk, making external validation essential.

Fraud follows scale. Anywhere impressions are cheap and plentiful, you need stronger controls or your spend will leak fast. – Neil Patel