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Tracking platform Impact Radius buys anti-ad fraud service Forensiq

Acquisition creates what the newly combined company says is the first such service with a built-in, major anti-fraud capability.

Barry Levine on June 14, 2016 at 1:16 pm

To provide attribution that is as clean as possible, Impact Radius announced today that it has acquired anti-ad-fraud service Forensiq.

The newly combined companies say that their integrated platform will be the “first marketing system of record with built-in fraud detection.” Impact Radius offers mobile and desktop attribution services that track which marketing efforts led to conversions or other desired consumer actions, as well as a management platform for affiliate marketing and for marketing tags. Here’s a screen from its attribution service:

Deal terms were not announced, although the acquisition comes on the heels of $30 million recently raised by Impact Radius, whose customers include Getty Images, Shutterstock, Tommy Hilfiger and Ticketmaster.

Per Pettersen, CEO of Impact Radius, told me that both companies had previously partnered on specific accounts. Although it will be integrated into the Impact Radius platform, Forensiq will continue to offer its standalone services to any client, Forensiq founder and CEO David Sendroff said.

Forensiq is designed to spot and eliminate fraud throughout the entire ad cycle, utilizing over four trillion events every month on desktops and mobile devices.

Pettersen declined to provide statistics about how much fraud his company has previously detected and battled in its tracked traffic or to say how clean they expect the Forensiq integration will make the new Impact Radius.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimated last year that ad fraud costs marketers and media over $8 billion annually.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.