Video Ads Behind Banner Images Scam Exposed

Photograph: Suprakash Mishra

Bhubaneswar: How do you distinguish between an image and a video? Confused as to why this is a question? What if a video plays a still image for its entire length – wouldn’t it be a waste of resources? This is exactly what scamming advertisers are doing, making hefty profits from video ads while draining your battery and data.

This ad fraud scam, uncovered by Protected Media, states that these auto-playing video ads behind banner images, have been found to be linked to an Israeli company named Aniview, and its subsidiary OutStream Media which has denied the allegations.

When an app developer sells a banner ad, the ad tech company auto-plays a video in its place that users can’t notice but it gets counted as viewed. Video ads command a higher price and the ad tech company makes money out of it while the advertiser and app developer lose.