X, the social media giant, recently reported a significant surge in traffic during the Super Bowl weekend. However, a new report by cybersecurity firm CHEQ claims that the majority of this traffic was fake. According to X, impressions, user posts, and video views were up 31%, 41%, and 75% year-on-year respectively. But CHEQ’s report reveals that 75.85% of the traffic from X to its advertising clients’ websites was identified as fake.
This revelation is concerning for advertisers who are essentially paying for clicks that won’t lead to any conversions. Fake traffic not only impacts their budget but also complicates the optimization of their campaigns as it hinders a clear understanding of their actual audience.
CHEQ gathered data for this report from 144,000 visits to its clients’ websites through X ads during the Super Bowl weekend. Although the data is not scientifically sampled and represents a small portion of the overall relevant data from CHEQ’s 15,000 clients, it highlights a significant trend.
CHEQ’s founder and CEO, Guy Tytunovich, expressed his surprise at the findings. He stated that he had never seen anything even remotely close to this level of fake traffic. CHEQ is a cybersecurity firm dedicated to preventing ad fraud. It provides solutions to block fake traffic and ensures the removal of bots and fake users from audience segments.
Advertisers should be cautious about relying solely on X for their ad campaigns. It is crucial to implement measures to detect and prevent fake traffic to protect their budget and optimize their campaigns effectively. The report by CHEQ serves as a wake-up call for advertisers to be vigilant about the authenticity of their traffic sources.
For more information on the reported traffic increases during the Super Bowl, you can read X’s announcement in full.
