Procter & Gamble cuts 100m in ineffective digital ads to combat bot traffic

https://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-cu...in-largely-ineffective-digital-ads-1501191104

"The company targeted ads that could wind up on sites with fake traffic from software known as “bots,” or those with objectionable content."

Wondering - what was the benefit of bot traffic for the bot maker of clicking P&G ads? Was there some sort of CPA or affiliate program?

P&G is the largest advertiser in the world:

"P&G, whose brands include Bounty, Crest, Tide and Pampers, spent $2.45 billion on U.S. advertising, not including spending on some digital platforms, according to Kantar Media. Long the biggest advertiser in the world, its pronouncements on trends in ad spending are watched closely."

bad news for us if big players start to cut ...

So they stopped advertising on Google, then?

The argument the ad agencies made in that article was hilarious. "Oh no. This is bad. You're cutting into our bottom line! Stop trying to save money!"

$100million is a lot of money to just blindly waste on digital advertising. If I were P&G I'd have done the same thing.

My next question is will this start a trend? Looks like Unilever is doing it too. Who's next?