Publishers Caught in the Crosshairs of Vendor MFA Tools

“Some brands are blocking your website.” A publisher received this news in February from one of its supply-side platforms, but neither the publisher nor the SSP knew why. After some digging, the block came from an adtech tool from DoubleVerify to help brands block made-for-advertising websites (MFA), a vogueish industry catch-all term for websites designed to attract ad revenue without providing content. The problem with DV's tool, and a similar solution from Integral Ad Science, both enhanced and released widely earlier this year, is that legitimate publishers might get caught in the crosshairs, five publishing sources told ADWEEK. Assessing the scale of the issue and the impact on revenue is difficult since publishers don't know if they have been blocked. Large Brands Are Still Advertising on Made-for-Advertising Websites After Industry Outcry “We’re not getting transparency as to why we’re getting on the list,” the publisher source said, declining to be named so that they could discuss sensitive industry relations. Over one month of conversations, the publisher's SSP worked with DV to get the sites no longer classified as MFA. The publisher, which runs an ad network, still doesn’t know which criteria got the sites dinged in the first place. DV said its MFA tool was designed based on feedback from several of the world's top publishers. A spokesperson added that it can discuss with publishers directly the context of why they are classified a certain way. "Publishers have embraced and supported our MFA solution, which, we believe, is the most nuanced MFA quality offering on the market today," the DV spokesperson said. "We designed it to provide advertisers a scalpel, not a sledgehammer, unlike an MFA avoidance strategy relying solely on blunt inclusion lists." The publisher complaints are the latest in long-simmering tensions between publishers and ad verification firms, which have been accused of unfairly diverting ad revenue away from hard news with overly simplistic keyword blocking. “It’s another metric that publishers are getting beaten over the head with,” a second publishing source said, referring to IAS' Ad Clutter tool, released in March, which helps brands avoid publishers with a high ad-to-content ratio and high ad density. "We ensure that publishers have the opportunity to view reports and gain insights on the quality of their inventory so that they can make the necessary adjustments to avoid being flagged as MFA or Ad Clutter," said Scott Pierce, head of fraud protection at IAS. "By making these adjustments, publishers can actually increase the quality and value of their inventory and drive greater revenue." Despite the gripes, brands need solutions to avoid MFA websites, two buyers told ADWEEK, especially during a yearslong industrywide panic and recent research from Adalytics finding that major brands still end up on MFA sites. MFA tools get more nuance DV's solution, released widely in February, offers a three-tiered classification of MFA from high to low, based on criteria like dependence on paid traffic, significant ad density, ad refreshing frequency, endless scrolling or clicking within the same domain and verbatim content duplication across various websites. DV said it does not block entire sites, but it weighs different sections of a site accordingly, regularly audits its categorization criteria and uses a combination of human review and AI to check its classification. Pierce told ADWEEK in a previous conversation that IAS prefers to define MFA as made for arbitrage—using paid traffic and programmatic systems to extract a profit—and it is working to make sure that its tool will not unfairly penalize small publishers or minority-owned publishers that might occasionally use paid traffic to meet advertiser goals. IAS crafted its tech with metadata from Sincera, the Association of National Advertisers’ definition of MFA and a domain list from Jounce Media. Definitions are still woolly Several trade bodies came to a definition of MFA in September 2023, which included MFA as having a high ad-to-content ratio, rapidly refreshing ad placements, a high percentage of paid traffic, generic and non-unique content and a poorly designed website. There are efforts to refine the definition. “The criteria altogether compose a good definition,” the first publisher said. “Elements of it alone are not distinct enough. You can have a great content site that has a lot of ads. While that might be a poor advertising experience, it isn’t a made-for-arbitrage site.” Publishers struggle to know what combinations of guidelines are used to judge their sites since most don’t have a direct relationship with the firms, said Justin Wohl, chief revenue officer at Snopes.com and TV Tropes. “As an individual publisher, you don’t know (if you’re blocked). You hope that you have relationships with your partners,” he said, adding that SSPs alerting publishers to a block and rectifying it directly is relatively rare. Fraud detection firm DeepSee, along with other industry players including ANA, 4As, the Brand Safety Institute and Jounce, is in the early stages of creating a portal where publishers can see whether they are classified as MFA, said DeepSee CEO Rocky Moss. He added that IAS, DV and Pixalate will be asked to participate. Buyers use tools on the open exchange to keep up with MFA At Havas Media Group, brands are encouraged to buy via private marketplaces, and the agency helps vet which sites are included with Jounce Media. It recommends ad verification tools for buys on the open exchange, using IAS' tool, said Meghan McGuirk, senior vice president and group director of digital strategy and investment at Havas Media Group. "For brands, an inclusion list-only approach poses challenges in scalability and manual adjustments, especially as artificial-intelligence-generated content proliferates," a DV spokesperson said. At agency Good Apple, clients use DV's tool. “If we can reduce the number of those sites, this is a gift,” said vp of programmatic George Tarnopolsky. “[It’s] making the inventory more premium.” This article has been updated to clarify that DeepSee along with other industry players are creating a portal to show publishers if they have been classed as MFA.