MFA sites in industry body sights but the answer is obvious

Industry bodies, including the WFA, ANA, 4A’s and ISBA, recently defined ‘made for advertising’ (MFA) websites which are harvesting billions of ad dollars quite legally while offering advertisers nothing in return, but the solution lies in advertisers’ hands 

Why MFA sites matter

Two things. The first is the huge sum of money being wasted by advertisers: it seems extraordinary that they are willing to throw away $13bn (ANA estimates) on such sites for no return at all. Is that really just seen as a cost of doing business? 

The second thing is the concomitant amount of energy consumed in serving up those ads to MFA sites that the ANA said earlier this year accounted for 30% of all ad auctions. For an industry that talks a good game about net zero, this issue needs to be addressed. 

Typical characteristics of MFA sites 

• High ad-to-content ratio – usually twice the internet average or more.
• Rapidly auto-refreshing ad placements.
• High percentage of paid traffic sourcing – they’re highly dependent on visits sourced from clickbait ads that run on social networks and content recommendation platforms.
• Generic content – non-editorial or templated, low-quality content.
• Poorly designed, templated website designs. 

What’s the answer?

The MFA definitions above were developed in consultation with Chris Kane, founder of ad research firm Jounce Media, who points out that the existence of such sites is simply a response to the continued demands of advertisers for cheap, viewable impressions placed in front of valid human traffic. Change those demands and you can change the whole ecosystem. 

Key quote

“When marketers tell DSPs to optimize by sales, conversions and real-world outcomes, they run away from MFA. When DSPs are told to value cost per viewable impressions, they gobble up MFA” – Chris Kane, president, Jounce Media, quoted by Ad Exchanger.

Sourced from Ad Exchanger, ISBA