Protecting media quality in a high-pressure market

By Sophia Warren, Head of Sales, ANZ, DV

Today's marketers face no shortage of challenges. From demonstrating return on investment to navigating an increasingly fragmented media landscape, Australian brands are under pressure to maximise every advertising dollar.

That creates a clear tension: move quickly, but spend effectively. Unfortunately, under that pressure, decision-making can become short-sighted. When teams are asked to do more with less and deliver results faster, speed can take priority over quality. As a result, budgets are committed too quickly, approvals are fast-tracked, and the standards you would normally expect can fall by the wayside.

Consider the downstream impact of that.

Quality Under Pressure

Don't let the naysayers fool you. Brand suitability isn't just important; it's arguably more important than ever as the online risk surface keeps expanding.

AI has introduced a growing wave of new and increasingly complex suitability challenges for advertisers, from political deepfakes to AI-generated "slop". In fact, some estimate that most online content could soon be AI-produced. That's not necessarily surprising as generative AI tools become better, faster, and cheaper by the day.

In this new environment, pressure to move quickly can easily lead to investment in lower-quality environments, where a major brand's ads appear alongside made-for-arbitrage content or "slop." In the push to deploy budget quickly, the media quality standards advertisers would normally maintain can break down.

For advertisers navigating this moment, that means maintaining strict suitability and quality standards, even under pressure, and coordinating ahead with adtech and media partners.

Fraud Under Pressure

Fraud is another concern. Moving quickly can increase the risk of working with resellers, for example, that may ultimately defraud you. In Australia, the premium cost of ad inventory presents a lucrative opportunity for fraudsters.

Ad fraud follows the money. When major investments are made quickly, fraudsters see an opening. AI, much like with brand suitability challenges, is also being abused here, helping bad actors spin up shell sites, fake apps, and other deceptive assets designed to support fraud.

We're even seeing this on CTV. Our own analysis of billions of impressions globally in 2025 found fraud schemes increasing by more than 140% year over year, driven in part by AI.

For advertisers, that means maintaining rigorous verification and supply chain controls to protect spend and keep performance from being undermined by bots and bad actors.

Performance Under Pressure

Finally, performance suffers, too. While media quality isn't typically viewed as a direct measure of performance, it does play a critical role in enabling it. As National Head of Biddable Media at Spark Foundry, Gregory Cattelain, said on a panel at our DV IMPACT: Sydney event last year, "verification is optimisation."

Unsuitable or fraudulent impressions, for example, have very little chance of driving meaningful outcomes, and exposure to low-quality inventory can drag down overall campaign effectiveness.

In that sense, pressure to just create quality risks and hurts you in the short term - it can ultimately put future budgets at risk if campaign outcomes fail to justify the investment.

It's also important for advertisers to continue measuring performance in a meaningful way. Don't let the pressure to demonstrate results lower the bar for the metrics you're willing to accept. Maintain a high standard and focus on metrics tied to genuine engagement and business outcomes, such as attention, wherever possible.

Today's market isn't just a test of how quickly advertisers can spend. Anyone can spend money quickly, and it's not hard to spend poorly. Marketers must focus on how effectively they can protect quality, avoid risk, and drive meaningful outcomes under pressure.