Australian ad fraud rates in optimised campaigns are slightly higher than both global and APAC averages. Australia’s desktop display fraud sits at 1.5 per cent, compared to 1.1 per cent globally and 1.3 per cent across APAC.
Integral Ad Science, which released its 20th edition of its Media Quality Report (MQR), captured insights from more than 280 billion digital interactions daily across the world, across display and video ad formats on desktop, mobile web, mobile app and connected TV (CTV) environments.
This year’s report found a significant rise in non-optimised ad fraud rates, an increase in the proportion of brand risk attributed to offensive language and hate speech in these environments, and a stabilisation of viewability rates as marketers shift toward new metrics such as attention.
“As digital media complexity accelerates, IAS remains steadfast in empowering our partners with the transparency, precision, and protection they need to succeed,” said IAS CEO Lisa Utzschneider.
“The 20th edition of the MQR underscores the critical need for proactive media quality strategies to ensure marketers can drive performance while protecting their brands from the evolving and multi-faceted risks in the programmatic advertising landscape.”
The report found that sophisticated ad fraud initiatives now account for 15-times higher fraud rates than when no pre-bid fraud protection is in place.
Meanwhile, desktop video viewability reached a record high of 83.9 per cent, reflecting video’s increasing impact on media consumption.
Australia has some of the highest viewability rates in the region. Desktop video viewability hit 89.8 per cent, while mobile app display reached 82.6 per cent.
Video ad completion rates are equally strong, with desktop video completion hitting 94.9 pet cent — a sign of mature creative optimisation and user engagement.
Australia has strong time-in-view across mobile environments, with mobile web display averaging 15.75 seconds, which is above the global benchmark of 13.65s. Mobile app display also holds steady at 13.11 seconds, indicating solid user engagement on mobile-first platforms. While desktop TIV trails slightly behind global averages, mobile continues to offer strong opportunities for deeper audience attention.
Australia also recorded a moderate overall brand risk (1.4 per cent) on desktop display. However, risk from offensive content and violence remains elevated, with 51.8 per cent of brand risk on desktop display attributed to violent content, highlighting the need for continued use of brand suitability tools during key news cycles or political moments.
