Travel Advertising Facing 20% Higher Rates of Fraud

DoubleVerify has released an industry report uncovering the state of media quality in the travel and hospitality sector, and measures advertisers can take to ensure their digital investments are maximised.

As vacation and entertainment activities resume, the travel and hospitality industry is beginning to ramp up ad spend. To help global travel and hospitality brands boost the effectiveness of digital advertising campaigns, DV analyzed trends specific to the sector across fraud, viewability and brand safety and suitability.

Key findings for the time period between January 2020 to January 2021 include:

Fraud continues to be a concern for digital advertisers — and the travel and hospitality industry is a target. DV found a 20 per cent higher post-bid fraud rate for travel and hospitality advertisers compared with all other major industries.
Travel and hospitality advertisers often have stringent brand safety and suitability settings, especially if they are catering to younger audiences and families. Compared with the average rate seen across other verticals, travel advertisers saw an 82 per cent higher brand suitability violation rate. In APAC, the violation rate was +52 per cent compared with the average – the lowest increase globally – in contrast to EMEA (+87 per cent) and NA (+88 per cent).
While viewability rates are inching up overall, the viewability rates for travel ads lag behind the other major verticals. Display viewable rates in APAC were 11 per cent lower for travel advertisers as compared with other industries, and video viewable rates were 15 per cent lower.

“As we look ahead to a brighter future where travel and hospitality are once again commonplace, it’s important to take proper measures to maximize media effectiveness,” said Julie Eddleman, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer, DoubleVerify. “Just as all travelers will expect higher standards to ensure their well-being, digital advertisers will demand clarity and confidence in their digital investments. Setting a clear, informed strategy to address the issues of fraud, viewability, brand safety and suitability, and consumer privacy, will help ensure advertisers — and their audiences — have a smooth journey ahead.”

Imran Masood, DoubleVerify ANZ Country Manager said: “As state borders open and domestic travel booms, advertising investment from government tourism bodies and travel and tourism brands has scaled. Brands across Australia should ensure every dollar invested is driving impact to their market or their business. Our goal is to give our customers in the region clarity and confidence in their digital investments as spend resumes.”

Video is a particularly important medium for travel and hospitality advertisers. One study showed 65 per cent of consumers rely on video when booking a trip. To improve performance, travel and hospitality advertisers need to be sure they’re targeting quality inventory that is brand suitable, viewable and free of fraud.

DV offers a robust set of protections for advertisers across all channels. In Q4 of 2020, DoubleVerify launched DV Video Filtering, an industry-first solution that helps advertisers reduce quality infractions and associated wasted investment across all video environments and devices — including CTV, where blocking is not supported.

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