Key facts
- Hakuhodo DY Holdings is launching a new advertising service to combat AI bot-driven ad fraud.
- The service will use biometric technology to verify human interaction with ads.
- A new company, Ads for Humanity, will release an app for users to earn points by watching ads.
- FIDIA Inc. reported a 124% increase in ROAS after implementing Spider AF's ad fraud prevention.
- A pilot program by Hakuhodo, Tools for Humanity, and LG Electronics used blockchain to log ad impressions from verified humans.
- The pilot resulted in a 50% increase in click-through rates and a 15-point improvement in bounce rates.
Japanese advertising giant Hakuhodo DY Holdings is set to launch a new advertising delivery service aimed at combating the growing problem of ad fraud, particularly that perpetrated by artificial intelligence bots. The initiative involves a new company, Ads for Humanity, which will release an app that rewards users with points for watching advertisements, thereby verifying human interaction.
This move comes as traditional methods struggle to keep pace with AI-driven fraud. Google, for instance, blocked over 8.3 billion ads and suspended 24.9 million advertiser accounts in 2025 due to policy violations, with 602 million ads linked to scams. The company employs its Gemini AI to analyze hundreds of billions of signals to catch over 99% of policy-violating ads before they run, highlighting the escalating AI-versus-AI nature of ad safety.
In a separate but related development, FIDIA Inc., a Japanese company operating in lifestyle, HR, and digital services, reported a significant increase in its Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS), up to 124%, after implementing Spider AF, a leading ad fraud and click fraud prevention solution. FIDIA suspected high fraud rates, especially in sensitive sectors like financial services and online clinics, which inflated costs. Spider AF's technology automatically blocked invalid clicks, leading to improved campaign profitability and enabling FIDIA to scale its digital advertising investments more aggressively.
Hakuhodo itself has explored blockchain solutions for ad verification. In a pilot program from July to August 2025, the agency partnered with Tools for Humanity and LG Electronics to test a 'Human-Verified Ad Network.' This network served ads exclusively to users verified by World ID, a system that proves unique human identity without revealing personal information. Every ad impression was logged on LG's blockchain infrastructure. The pilot, involving over 3,500 participants and ten advertisers, resulted in a 50% increase in click-through rates and a 15-point improvement in bounce rates, demonstrating the potential of verified attention models.
Further innovation in the ad-tech space includes Coinbase's acquisition of Spindl in January 2025. Spindl is an on-chain ads and attribution platform focused on verifying that ads drive real actions, such as wallet interactions or token purchases, by tracing user journeys from clicks to on-chain events. This 'verified conversion model' contrasts with traditional methods relying on cookies and probabilistic matching, offering advertisers a verifiable chain of custody for their ad spend.