Dun & Bradstreet is partnering with the Trustworthy Accountability Group to help the anti-fraud initiative (see 1605230010) verify the identities of buyers, sellers and intermediaries in the digital advertising supply chain. "With Dun & Bradstreet data, TAG can feel confident that only legitimate business entities are approved to participate in the TAG Registry," said Dun & Bradstreet CEO Bob Carrigan in a news release. "Supporting TAG in its efforts to bring transparency to online advertising aligns with Dun & Bradstreet's mission of uncovering truth from data to reveal a business' best -- or riskiest -- relationships." TAG was formed two years ago by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers and Interactive Advertising Bureau in part to combat digital ad piracy and copyright infringement. Dun & Bradstreet will vet the identities of companies applying to be "TAG Registered" by matching their information such as address, contact emails and names, tax ID and other fields. After TAG does a final check of companies forwarded by Dun & Bradstreet, approved companies get a unique identifier "that can be appended to digital ads, and shared with advertising partners to verify the legitimacy and reputation of the business," it said. The issue has come under more scrutiny, with two Democratic senators urging the FTC to get more involved in understanding and fighting fraudulent digital ads (see 1607110016).

Canadian rock band Billy Talent mastered its latest album for Klipsch Reference R6 and R6i on-ear headphones to provide a way for listeners to hear the music the way it was intended to be heard, said the headphone maker. It’s the first mastering for headphone program for the industry, and if successful could be an ongoing program with other artists, a Klipsch spokesman told us. The album, Afraid of Heights, will be available July 29, and physical copies of the album on vinyl and CD include a download code giving purchasers access to a high-res 24-bit/96kHz “mastered for headphones” version of the album, Klipsch said. Equalization was applied to each track for optimum playback on the R6 ($79) and R6i ($99) headphones, giving fans a way to hear the album “exactly the way it does in the studio,” said Vlad Grodzinskiy, Klipsch senior manager, product development-headphones.

Samsung partnered with Warner on a Suicide Squad promotion around the Gear VR that will be held at Comic-Con in San Diego Thursday. Virtual reality content based on the movie will premiere at Comic-Con, letting participants experience what it’s like to be a member of the Squad in an interactive feature based on their own Suicide Squad character, Samsung said. They can generate a short video of themselves to share on social channels and create personalized skulls using an icon generator to print them on a T-shirt, said the company. Samsung also has a Suicide Squad promotion around the Galaxy Tab A 10, announced last week (see report in the July 15 issue), where buyers can get free tickets to the movie.

Two senators are asking the FTC to take a deeper dive into digital advertising fraud inflicted by botnets and malware that they said results in consumers shelling out more for goods and services. In a Monday letter to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Mark Warner of Virginia said industry efforts to combat fraud in the nearly $60 billion digital ad space are important -- but may not be enough. They said federal regulation must keep pace with oversight of the digital ad space similar to oversight of financial markets. They focused on damage done by bots that they said "plague ... the space by creating fake consumer traffic, artificially driving up the cost of advertising in the same way human fraudsters can manipulate the price of a stock by creating artificial trading volume." Citing one study, they wrote that "between 88 and 98 percent of all ad-clicks on major ad platforms such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Yahoo in a given seven day period weren't executed by human beings" but by bots, which allow hackers to hijack multiple computers and commit fraud. By 2025, ad fraud could become the second biggest revenue source, behind drug trafficking, for organized crime groups, they said, citing another report. Schumer and Warner also pointed to a White Ops and the Association of National Advertisers study done this year, writing "this market manipulation scheme will cost advertisers over $7.2 billion in the next year alone" and also will hurt mobile ads as that space grows. The senators want to know what the FTC is doing to fight digital ad fraud, monitor mobile platforms and coordinate with law enforcement and the private sector on this issue, among others. Dave Grimaldi, Interactive Advertising Bureau executive vice president-public policy, said Monday in a statement that IAB shares the senators' concerns and the industry-formed Trustworthy Accountability Group recently launched an anti-fraud seal program (see 1605230010) to improve accountability and transparency in the space. An FTC spokesman said the commission has received the senators' letter, declining further comment.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment settled FTC allegations for allegedly not telling customers it paid online "influencers ... thousands of dollars" to post positive videos on social media sites like YouTube to promote the videogame Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, said the commission Monday in a news release. Commissioners voted 3-0 to issue an administrative complaint and accept the proposed consent agreement, which will be published in the Federal Register soon and available for public comment through Aug. 10. The consent order said Warner Bros. must "make such disclosures in the future and cannot misrepresent that sponsored content, including gameplay videos, are the objective, independent opinions of video game enthusiasts or influencers," the release said. In 2014, the company's ad agency Plaid Social Labs hired online influencers "to develop sponsored gameplay videos" and post them on YouTube, and promote them on Facebook and Twitter -- videos that were viewed more than 5.5 million times, the FTC said. It said Felix Kjellberg, who's known by his YouTube alias "PewDiePie," alone garnered more than 3.7 million views. The company paid influencers anywhere "from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars," provided a free game in advance and instructed them to promote it "in a positive way and not disclose any bugs or glitches they found," the commission said. Not only did Warner Bros. fail to disclose it paid influencers, but the FTC alleged the company didn't tell influencers "to include sponsorship disclosures clearly and conspicuously in the video itself where consumers were likely to see or hear them." Instead, the influencers were told to post disclosures in a box below the video -- less likely to be seen by consumers, the commission said. In an emailed statement, Warner Bros. said it "always strives to be transparent with our customers and fans when working with social influencers, and we are committed to complying with the related FTC guidelines."

Thousands of small businesses will participate in Amazon Prime Day Tuesday, which boasts more than a 100 percent jump in deals over last year’s summer deals event, said Amazon. Among the sneak preview items listed Tuesday: LSTN headphones and speakers at savings up to 50 percent, a Segway personal transporter at 20 percent savings, baby clothing (20 percent off) and a Luno Wear men’s watch (35 percent off). Sample pricing of LSTN headphones currently: $29 for earbuds, $59 for over-ear headphones with wood housings and $199 for a Bluetooth speaker. Peter Faricy, vice president-Amazon Marketplace, said Prime Day gives small businesses and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon a summer “peak sales day” and a way to “help sellers prepare for the upcoming holiday season by providing feedback and more customer reviews on their new and top selling products.”

New York magazine is having a “Dreams Come True” sweepstakes to promote its Select All technology website, promising a virtual reality headset “of your choice” as the prize. Consumers can enter via email and social media sites. The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia 13 or older.

Global advertising agencies Interpublic and Omnicom and companies Bayer, GoDaddy and Google said they will take aggressive steps to stop ads from appearing on pirated websites, the Trustworthy Accountability Group said in a Thursday news release. The 2-year-old TAG, formed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers and Interactive Advertising Bureau in part to combat digital ad piracy and copyright infringement, said $2.4 billion in revenue is lost to pirated sites annually. By committing to Tag's pledge, the companies -- joining dozens more ad agencies and advertisers now in the initiative -- must take "commercially reasonable steps to minimize the inadvertent placement of digital advertising on websites or other media properties,” the group said. This means they must hire a TAG-validated company that offers anti-piracy services, use TAG-certified ad placement services or conduct business with ad agencies that carry the TAG “Certified Against Piracy” seal. Eleven companies have "earned" that seal, "which signals to the industry that their anti-piracy services meet stringent requirements of keeping ads off of sites that contain illicit content," said TAG.

U.S. internet ad revenue saw a record Q1, hitting $15.9 billion, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said in a news release Thursday. The previous first-quarter record, $13.2 billion, was set last year, said the IAB report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The 21 percent year-over-year jump is the biggest in four years, it said. The report included revenue data from websites, commercial online services, free email providers and other online ad sellers. “These landmark revenues confirm the growing importance of interactive for brand marketers to reach consumers who are increasingly spending their time on digital screens,” said IAB Chief Marketing Officer David Doty. “Last year the industry reached its highest level of investment at over $50 billion, and this first quarter lays the foundation for what could very well be the biggest year yet for digital ad spending.”

The Asus ZenFone 2 special edition smartphone was an Amazon Deal of the Day Wednesday. The unlocked 128 GB device, running Android 5.0, was selling for $269, down from $399. The phone incorporates a 5.5-inch display with Gorilla Glass and 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front cameras, said Amazon.