Strengthening Our Commitment to Quality Media: Teads inventory is MFA-Free

The proliferation of low-quality inventory in the media landscape has given media buyers the false impression that digital advertising inventory is infinite. Made-For-Advertising (MFA) websites across the open internet are the primary drivers of this inflated inventory. These sites often produce no original content, trick users into clicking on ads, and juxtapose more than 10 ads on a single page. 

To ad buyers judging the success of their campaigns on basic media metrics, these sites can be attractive, driving high click-through rates (unintentional), high viewability (small, sticky-on-page ad units), and high reach. By exploiting system vulnerabilities through outdated measurement tactics, they not only compromise the integrity of digital advertising but also highlight a stark reality—a critical distinction between the limitless MFA-generated inventory and the scarce resource of quality media inventory. This situation underscores the importance of our focus on meaningful metrics—quality engagements, quality visits, and quality conversions. 

Categorizing websites as “MFA” is no easy practice. New MFA sites are created all the time, even more so thanks to advances in AI allowing for content to be created in seconds. Lines can sometimes be blurry, and even highly reputable websites may sometimes engage in practices that give MFA a bad name. While we have developed some of our own criteria, we have also partnered with Jounce Media in this task.  Jounce Media’s efforts have brought clarity to the definition of MFA Publishers, highlighting sites built more for ad revenue generation than for providing value to users. This clarity supports our ongoing mission—strengthening our pledge—to foster a quality journalism and content ecosystem and to help high-quality publishers grow their businesses. 

According to Chris Kane at Jounce Media, “MFA publishers siphon ad spend that media buyers would otherwise deploy to reputable publishers. The existence of the ad arbitrage business model creates material headwinds for web publishers that are doing the hard work to produce original content and build a loyal audience.”

The initial appeal of MFA sites is understandable: they promise clicks, high frequency, and large ad views. Yet, a closer examination reveals a starkly different reality, one where user experience suffers, and the true value of advertising is diminished through clickbait, fake news, lack of frequency capping, and ad clutter. This situation underscores a critical distinction: while MFA-generated inventory may seem limitless, quality media inventory is not.

An alarming revelation by an ANA report underscores the scale of this challenge: 15% of programmatic advertising spend is allocated to MFA websites. This stark statistic highlights the critical need for the industry to double down on its dedication to prioritizing quality, impactful content over mere quantity of ad views.1

In 2024, we doubled down on our efforts to identify Made-For-Advertising (MFA) sites as part of a broader commitment to enhance the quality of digital advertising spaces. Because there was no previous definition of MFA’s, these new parameters established by Jounce help to create a path forward to ensure MFA’s are not included on the Tead’s platform. 

While MFA sites once comprised a small fraction of our overall inventory, we’ve worked diligently to reduce that number to zero. 

By successfully excluding MFA content from our supply chain, Teads can proudly announce that we now support 100% MFA-Free Inventory.

The reality of inventory without cookies places greater importance on the quality of contextual data available from the publisher environment for building quality cookieless solutions. The higher the quality of journalism, the greater the comprehension of the conversation, and therefore, more accurate targeting is achievable. This emphasis on high-quality contexts aligns with our commitment to authentic, brand-safe, and genuinely valuable advertising, setting a foundation for genuine engagement and impactful advertising while supporting quality journalism.

Chris, from Jounce, reports: “Teads’s decision to remove MFA inventory demonstrates the company’s commitment to building a durable marketplace that serves the needs of media buyers and authentic publishers.”

This effort reaffirms our dedication to providing high-quality, premium experiences to both advertisers and consumers. Our continued focus on collaborating with premium content providers has resulted in a noticeable improvement in the quality of traffic acquired by our advertisers. This includes nearly a +2% increase in page views per visit and a 10% increase in average time spent per visit.2

It reflects our core values—authenticity, brand safety, genuine value, and the support of quality journalism—principles we’ve always embraced and are now doubling down on.

At Teads, we pioneered the coexistence of quality media and quality results. Our strengthened commitment ensures that advertisers don’t have to compromise, providing a foundation for genuine engagement and impactful advertising while supporting quality journalism. 

Reinforcing our commitment, Teads leverages attention metrics offering invaluable insights to understand what truly captures audience interest. In studies with Lumen and Adelaide it was found that premium domains attract 11x more ad attention on display and 5x more on video than the bottom 25% of domains.2

MFA content doesn’t just provide a poor user experience it has an environmental impact as well. Recent studies have found that MFA sites have a bigger carbon footprint. In 2023, Ebiquity reported that these sites produce 26.4% more carbon dioxide than other sites. Another study by Scope3 from the same year showed that 15.3% of all U.S. advertising money was wasted on MFA inventory. At Teads, being environmentally friendly is a top priority, and these findings make our mission even clearer.3

In light of these findings, Teads is more committed than ever to its mission. Our platform champions quality ad formats, cookieless audience solutions, and premium media environments to drive responsible, real, and measurable outcomes.

To learn more about quality ads and responsible advertising, read our recent Tech Themes 2024 report highlighting Key Media Topics Shaping the Industry.  For more information, contact us. 

 

1- ANA Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study, 2023

2- Teads internal data, Q1 2024

3- Lumen Passive Panel (UK + US, 3095), Adelaide + Teads

4- Scope3, Ebiquity and Scope3 Research Study Reveals That 15% of Brand Ad Spend is Wasted, Contributing High Carbon Emissions and No ROI, 2022