Advertisers are wasting more money than ever before on invalid traffic such as bots and fake clicks, according to an in-depth new study by adtech platform Lunio.
By analysing 2.6 billion paid ad clicks and 104 billion impressions from 60,000 ad accounts across its customer base, which includes eBay, M&S, New Balance, McDonald’s and Hugo Boss, Lunio found that over £59 billion of ad spend will be wasted on invalid traffic next year.
Alarmingly for advertisers, the study also found that a considerable 8.5% share of all paid traffic across major advertising channels such as Google, Meta, Linkedin, and X/Twitter was invalid across 2022, roughly equalling one in 12 website clicks.
LinkedIn was found to have the highest invalid traffic rate at 25%, meaning over £1bn of predicted ad spend will be wasted by fake clicks on the platform next year.
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“Bots, fake users, and fake clicks are becoming more and more pervasive,” said Lunio co-founder and CEO, Neil Andrew.
“They instantly waste budgets, contaminate CRMs, distort analytics, waste the time and energy of sales teams, and make projected revenue forecasts unpredictable. Ultimately, this causes sizeable lost revenue opportunities – which we estimate could be as high as £169 billion.”
“It’s never been more important for marketers to find new insights on how to maximise ad spend efficiency and eliminate sources of fake ad engagement,” he continued.
“It’s the only way marketers can leverage a digital advertising ecosystem where every click, impression and placement drives genuine value.”
Overall, it is estimated that invalid traffic will cost businesses a combined £168.6 billion in lost revenue opportunities throughout 2024, a 33% increase on 2022.
