How to Keep Your Media Spend Safe from Made-for-Advertising Websites

There are made-for-advertising websites among us.

These websites, commonly referred to as MFAs, are not like other websites. They have no interest in providing valuable content or delivering an exceptional user experience. They exist solely to maximize advertising revenue, relying on clickbait headlines, sensationalized content, and aggressive ad placements to attract visitors and generate page views.

If I told you that MFAs only account for approximately 2% of unique websites globally, according to Pixelate, you’d probably dismiss them as a corner of the internet to be ignored. But what if I told you MFAs are capturing a disproportionate 11% of total open programmatic ad spend?

Suddenly, these MFAs might present a problem.

Not Just a Problem, But a Multi-Billion Dollar Problem

The good news is that the share of media dollars going to MFA sites has dropped significantly in the past year — down from 15% to 4% in the span of 18 months — which can be attributed to increased industry scrutiny and new solutions to help advertisers avoid MFA inventory.

The bad news is that total U.S. media ad spend is projected to be $389.49 billion this year, with $156.82 billion of that allocated to programmatic digital display advertising.

That’s a lot of advertising dollars going to waste on MFAs.

What is Driving the Rise of MFA Sites?

MFA sites didn’t get here all on their own. They’ve managed to gain a foothold in the programmatic advertising space with help from certain market conditions:

1. Generative AI has made it easier for bad actors to quickly create low-quality websites to monetize with ads.
2. Tight budgets and a focus on cheap, high-reach impressions have led a number of advertisers to prioritize MFA inventory.
3. Lack of transparency in programmatic and retail media ad buys has made it challenging for brands to know where their ads are placed.

What You Can Do to Avoid the Ad Waste of MFAs

To save your marketing dollars from being lost to MFA sites, here are four steps you can take that can mitigate the threat of MFAs and also help reduce overall waste in your ad campaigns.

Avoid Low-Hanging Fruit

The temptation to settle for cheap, low-quality impressions can be tough to resist. Instead, prioritize brand safety, viewability, and long-term value over short-term reach and clicks.

Rethink Your KPIs

Click-through rate (CTR) shouldn’t be your only (or even your most critical) KPI. Expand your reporting to include outcomes like brand lift, conversion, and customer lifetime value.

Demand More From Your Partners

Place a premium on transparency when it comes to your ad tech partners and publishers, and request regular updates on inventory quality, ad placement, and performance.

Prioritize Quality Ad Placements

Consider shifting more ad spend to retail media networks that partner with trusted publishers, ensuring quality off-site placements for your ads.

To Protect Your Advertising Dollars, Be Vigilant

With the growing threat of made-for-advertising websites siphoning billions in wasted spend, it's critical that brands work with a partner who can help navigate this challenge. It’s important to find a partner you can trust to audit your strategies, identify areas of MFA exposure and ad waste, and develop an actionable plan to drive more ROI from your digital marketing campaigns.

If you’re in the market for such a partner, we know a good one.