Made for advertising sites—how a new tool aims to steer ad dollars away from the risky placements

Amid a growing industry concern about ad dollars going to low-quality “made for advertising” sites, digital supply chain consultancy Jounce Media has joined with demand-side platform Basis Technologies to identify MFAs and steer ad dollars away from them. The effort appears to be the first implementation by a DSP of Jounce’s automated, dynamic definition of MFAs. Jounce approaches the definition differently than some in ways that allow sites to make changes that remove them from MFA status, and applying that approach could help more sites avoid what's become a troublesome label. Also read: A guide to made for advertising websites Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards Final deadline approaching for annual program Enter here Under the terms of the deal, Basis will incorporate Jounce’s block list of MFA sites into its DSP and apply it to all campaigns by default, though marketers and agencies can opt out of those exclusions. Working off of a dynamic definition rather than a fixed list makes it possible for sites to make positive changes that remove them from the classification, said Ian Trider, Basis VP of product. In some cases, Trider said, publishers that would never be considered MFA sites can end up being labeled as such because of the extensive share of their traffic taken over by partnerships with MFA sites. MFAs have long been a quality issue in programmatic buying on the open web but became more so with the issuance of the Association of National Advertisers digital supply chain report in June showing widespread programmatic buying of MFAs. The ANA is expected to delve deeper into the MFA issue in a follow-up report later this month. While some buyers try to avoid MFAs through inclusion or exclusion lists, that effort is hampered by the fact that many MFAs change names regularly, according to Jounce Media founder Chris Kane. In September, Jounce applied its definition of MFAs in certifying that Yahoo had become the only large supply source in the industry that was entirely MFA-free. To define a site as MFA, Jounce determines whether it fits at least one of three criteria: AI marketing blog How brands are using ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and other tools Read more here

Made for advertising sites—how a new tool aims to steer ad dollars away from the risky placements

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