State of CPA Regulation
by Trip Foster : Nov 13, 2009
Last Tuesday, one of our founders, Jivan Manhas gave a keynote at a performance marketing leadership summit hosted by OfferVault – you can see the slide deck at the bottom of this post. The coverage of the event on Adotas is here. A couple things came up at the event that folks in the industry unanimously feel need addressing by the industry:
- First and foremost is the issue of reducing the types of fraud perpetrated by publishers that cost the advertiser money and hurt their brand. The solutions discussed were both private sector (OfferVault seeks to create a publisher certification service called AffiliCert) and public sector based (The PMA will presumably step in here to take a leadership role in defining standards and best practices for publishers and networks)
- The second issue is policing the networks and internet for advertisers that seek to dupe the consumer by poor disclosure or fine print that hides the truth about what the user is signing up for and how their data will be used. These types of shady promotions are what Michael Arrington of TechCrunch is so focused on rooting off of facebook’s and myspace. Recent updates to the “Scamville” issue can be seen here.
So what does all this mean to you?:
- Regulation from both state and federal levels is coming our way, so stay away from dodgy advertisers, questionable campaigns or non-compliant practices
- More self-regulation is coming: private and public sectors will soon come to market with publisher certification programs and better standards will be put in place to make sure the consumer is protected.
- An industry shake appears to be imminent. There will be the networks and platforms that choose to self-regulate and abide by standards in one corner, and those that are more aggressive, more greedy and less compliant will be in the other corner. Can you guess where the money will go??
We would enjoy hearing your thoughts on these issues, so chime in below!
12 Comments, Comment or Ping
affiliatesprout
State of CPA regulation http://bit.ly/3b02XM
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Nov 13th, 2009
affiliate marketer
why not clean up your own network first?
You have shady offers like “(2509) Profits at Home using Amazon” that doesn’t even have the rebill disclosure on the same page as the offer, really poor disclosure. (fraud?)
why not stand up and set an example that your network will be clean of this nonsense? and quit contributing to the problem.
Nov 13th, 2009
mediatrustpete
State of CPA Regulation http://tinyurl.com/yc5dcp8 #marketing #affiliate #CPA #affiliatemarketing
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Nov 13th, 2009
Peter Bordes
we are working on it. we are pushing to evolve the industry and def our advertisers and publishers on the MediaTrust system. it takes time as we need to shake the trees without braking the branches. we are far from perfect and working to make a difference.
Nov 13th, 2009
crisrosenbeiger
State of CPA Regulation | Mediatrust Blog http://bit.ly/1i98cZ
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Nov 13th, 2009
Benton Middleton
Hey Guys,
All great points that we all agree NEED to be addressed AND corrected in the next several months or so, if CPA is to not only survive, but also beget a higher respect than it already has.
One point that was NOT mentioned that also needs to be included is this: Advertisers who short-change affiliates by not crediting affiliates with ALL of their due click-throughs and/or use “fine print” not to pay them at all. When this happens, the affiliate loses money from expenses he/she has put out and the advertiser loses credibility with the affiliates and the networks. And of course, the network does’nt get paid on those deals either.
Overall though, we do have a lucrative opportunity here already, and the industry (CPA, CPC, or CPL) has a bit of a way to go before we are perfect. However, if the above points are both addressed and corrected ASAP, then the future will be much brighter for all of us.
Hope this helps someone, and hope that the networks and legislators see this as well. Thanks in advance.
Nov 15th, 2009
kenzei
State of CPA Marketing Regulation http://tinyurl.com/yc5dcp8 #cpa #marketing via @mediatrust
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Nov 16th, 2009
PerformLine
State of CPA Regulation by @mediatrust http://bit.ly/sPKDn #pline
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Nov 16th, 2009
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