ClickZ Digital Ad Platform News | Google LLMs Cut Invalid Ad Traffic 40% Amid Crackdown

ClickZ Digital Ad Platform News

Here's what's happening this week in the world of digital advertising:
- Google’s LLMs tackle IVT, cutting waste by 40%.
- PMax adds gender exclusions, giving tighter audience control.
- Meta strengthens brand rights tools across its surfaces.
- YouTube rolls out new CTAs and richer Community posts.
- Creator ad scaling lags on YouTube, nudging spend to TikTok.

⏱️ Why Your Attribution Model Might Be Leading You Astray

At eTail Boston 2025, Fospha’s Chief Product Officer Dom Devlin joined leaders from Ahold Delhaize, Fleet Feet and Bonsai to tackle one of marketing’s most expensive blind spots: how brands measure performance across channels.

Too many brands still skew budgets toward the final click - because that’s the only place their reporting gives them certainty, all while under-funding the demand generation that actually drives long-term growth. Fleet Feet’s Tiffany Lee shared how cutting upper-funnel spend for just eight months saw new customer acquisition drop sharply, only recovering once awareness campaigns were restored.

Dom added another layer: the marketplace blind spot. Fospha’s data shows 42% of Amazon sales are influenced by non-Amazon ads - yet most reporting tools treat those sales as “organic,” meaning the channels that triggered the purchase never get the credit. Without that visibility, key growth drivers are left under-invested.

This is where Fospha’s Halo capability comes in - bringing DTC and marketplace sales into one Unified ROAS metric. It allows brands to see the true impact of channels like TikTok, Meta, and YouTube across all revenue streams, not just their own sites, and make confident, evidence-based decisions about where to spend next.

🔎 Read the full session insights to see all the panel’s takeaways on full-funnel measurement and closing marketplace gaps

📥️ Explore Fospha’s Halo Report to uncover how brands like Nécessaire used it to beat their Prime Day benchmarks by 47%

📌WEEKLY MUST-KNOWS

AD QUALITY AND FRAUD
Google Ads Touts New AI To Reduce Invalid Traffic In Some Cases By 40%

Google’s Ad Traffic Quality team, with Google Research and DeepMind, deployed LLM-powered defenses that reportedly cut invalid traffic from deceptive or disruptive ad serving by up to 40%. Faster analysis across app and web placements should reduce junk clicks and impressions, while reclassifying risky inventory. Expect near-term volume and CPA shifts; reconcile IVT credits with billing and analytics to ensure performance gains are real.

GOOGLE ADS
Google Ads Performance Max Campaigns Gain Gender Exclusion
Google added a gender exclusions control to Performance Max, now surfacing via beta for eligible accounts. This gives teams a lever to reduce wasted spend and address compliance-sensitive categories where gender relevance impacts outcomes. Monitor delivery redistribution and learning cycles, and align with legal and platform policies before broad rollout.

META PLATFORMS
Meta Updates System For Brand Rights Protection
Meta enhanced Brand Rights Protection with stronger automated detection and expanded advertiser reporting tools to curb misuse and violations. The update gives brands more control to flag and enforce against counterfeits and impersonation across Meta surfaces. E-commerce and marketplace teams should refresh takedown workflows, tighten authorized seller lists, and increase monitoring cadence.

⚡QUICK READS

YouTube Adds New CTA Options For Promote, More Images In Community Posts: YouTube is adding new in-stream CTA buttons and richer Community Posts—refresh creative and test CTAs to lift click-through and on-platform action.(More)

YouTube’s Slow Creator Ad Scaling Frustrates Marketers, Boosts TikTok: Cautious scaling of creator-led ads on YouTube is pushing incremental budgets to TikTok—watch CPM shifts and creator inventory competition.(More)

What The Tech: Instagram Location Feature: Local coverage highlights simple privacy controls for Instagram’s map, underscoring a near-term need for internal social teams and creators to audit settings and policies.(More)

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