What’s a problem advertisers and Angelenos have in common? Bad traffic.

Yahoo, one of the largest publishers in the US, has been a recipient of such traffic. Researchers suggest that traffic from what the industry often considers invalid was flowing to Yahoo-owned sites. In some instances, people visiting adult and piracy sites were redirected, via something called pop-unders, to Yahoo-owned properties like TechCrunch and Yahoo’s entertainment, sports, and finance sites.

Though it represents a small amount of traffic, it’s an example of bad actors trying to take advantage of the opaque ad-tech ecosystem.

How it works: Say you’re in the mood to enjoy some, uh, adult content or a pirated copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

When a user visits a specific URL, a trigger is pulled to either open another tab in your browser or in a new window that pops under the content you’re currently viewing. Visitors to sites like sexyadultx (dot) xyz, hottestporno (dot) xyz, and *checks notes* kansascitydentalassistant (dot) com were all redirected to Yahoo properties over a year-long period, Rocky Moss, the CEO and co-founder of ad fraud-detection company DeepSee, told Marketing Brew.

• Oftentimes, these Yahoo sites were playing video ads, which generally cost more than display inventory.
• Advertisers spotted include Honda, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, H&R Block, and the migraine medicine Emgality.

In other cases, visitors were being paid to visit Yahoo’s sites. DeepSee observed Yahoo receiving what’s called “incentivized traffic,” where, often for pennies, users are paid to visit a publisher. DeepSee noticed sites owned by a company called Prodege called MyPoints.com, InboxDollars.com, and Swagbucks.com all directed traffic to Yahoo properties.

Usually, users have to watch the content for a certain amount of time to earn rewards. (Marketing Brew made a Swagbucks account and after clicking on a recommendation, was sent to the streamer PlutoTV, which was airing the 2003 film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.)

Whodunit?

Moss first noticed the traffic in February 2021 when DeepSee saw that Swagbucks—a site that pays users for doing specific online activities like answering a survey, watching a video, or visiting a website—was directing traffic to Yahoo.

DeepSee, which operates web crawlers that scan some of the worst parts of the internet to research ad fraud, then noticed that pornographic and privacy sites were redirecting users to Yahoo as well.

Occam’s razor: “No one is just going to send the traffic there for free,” Moss told Marketing Brew, noting that Yahoo has a degree of plausible deniability with regards to who bought the traffic. “It could have been somebody that Yahoo partnered with to bring traffic to their site,” he said.

Read more about where this traffic, which is largely considered “invalid” in the industry, is coming from here.—RB

ICYMI, influencers took to social media over the weekend and compared Revolve Festival to the ill-fated 2017 Fyre Festival. But what does the bad press mean for the clothing brand’s influencer marketing strategy—an engine that, as of 2018, drove almost 70% of its sales?

In case you really missed it: Revolve Festival is a two-day Coachella-adjacent event for celebrities and influencers that’s gone off without a hitch for years now. It’s an exclusive affair where, according to Joseph Yomtoubian, an influencer who attended this year’s event, you “need to know someone to get invited.” This year, the event—which hospitality company h.wood Group ran—featured a Venmo-sponsored carnival swing ride, performances from Willow Smith and Post Malone, and, of course, a few unhappy influencers.

So what were they upset about? One influencer post basically sums it up: a TikTok from Averie Bishop, which became the most-shared piece of social media content in April 2022 mentioning Revolve, according to data from influencer marketing platform Traackr that was shared with Marketing Brew.

• In the video, Bishop complains about waiting in line for two hours for the Revolve-sponsored transportation to the event, as well as pushing and shoving occurring in line.
• Some never got on the bus to the festival at all. The line “Fyre Festival 2.0” was mentioned in her video, and the event has since made headlines. Revolve has publicly apologized.

Despite the drama, Evy Lyons, CMO at influencer-marketing platform Traackr, told Marketing Brew she doesn’t think Revolve will be impacted long-term. “I don’t think Revolve is going anywhere,” she said.

But she noted other brands should take Revolve’s experience as a warning. “This is a space—influencer marketing, fashion—that changes very quickly. And the opinions of just a few people can really sway the opinions of the masses,” Lyons explained. “You need to make sure that, if you’re going to invite influencers to a special experience, that you can deliver.”

Click here to read more.—PB

Last summer, Spotify announced that it would start a fund to help live-audio creators monetize. But less than a year later, the audio giant emailed applicants telling them the program is no more, according to Podnews.

This doesn’t mean the end of Spotify’s live-audio endeavor, however: This week, the streaming giant announced that it’s extending the live version of Fantasy Footballers, a popular sports podcast, for the next three NFL seasons as part of a larger deal with the pod. The podcast’s live show is exclusive to Spotify Live (formerly Spotify Greenroom).

The shutdown: Spotify originally promised that the fund would start making payments by the end of summer 2021, but that date on the fund’s website had yet to be updated by October 2021, per Podnews. By last month, the site said the fund would go live this year, but Podnews found no evidence that anyone actually got paid.

“The Creator Fund program is evolving along with our live-audio strategy, and will shift toward other initiatives for live creators,” Erin Styles, head of advertising, business communications, and PR at Spotify, said in a statement to Marketing Brew. “We look forward to sharing more in the future.”

The deal: Spotify’s deal with Fantasy Footballers gives it exclusive rights to sell ads for the pod, and makes it available through the Spotify Audience Network, the company’s at-scale advertising marketplace. Spotify bolstered its live-audio content earlier this month as well, adding live shows from Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper, comedian Hasan Minhaj, and influencer Tana Mongeau.

Zoom out: Spotify’s not the only company experimenting with live audio. Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are, too. But Facebook’s experiments might not be going too well; Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that some of its “initial Live Audio Rooms partners are no longer hosting conversations, and their deals were not re-upped.” —AM

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Trending: Twitter’s 2022 Trends Report analyzes billions of tweets from the past two years to reveal three trends marketers should capitalize on.

Insta: What you need to know about its algorithm in 2022.

Reel ’em in: Plus, use these hashtags on your Instagram Reels to supercharge growth.

Master your marketing moment: Iterable’s Activate Summit ’22 is crossing the pond for its first in-person event. Join experts in London from May 25–26 to discover and share unforgettable marketing moments—and register now for 50% off a Full Access pass.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Looking to hire the best marketers out there? Look no further than the Marketing Brew Job Board!

Today’s featured openings:

• Senior Graphic Designer at Refine Labs
• Marketing Manager at InfoSum
• Director of Growth Marketing at Morning Brew

See more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

Deloitte released a report this week analyzing the future of business travel, which was largely put on ice for the past couple of years for workers across industries, including marketing.

That could change eventually, but business travel likely won’t come roaring back in the near future, according to Deloitte.

WFH: Deloitte surveyed corporate travel managers last June, finding that 34% expected to spend half of what they did on travel in 2019 by the end of 2021. But when Deloitte surveyed 150 US executives who have travel-budget oversight in February for its latest travel report, only 8% of that group reported reaching that milestone.

Slow and steady: It’ll be at least two years before business travel spending is back to pre-pandemic levels, according to the report. It’s expected to reach 36% of 2019 levels by the end of this quarter, and 55% by the end of 2022.

The upside: Deloitte said the pandemic-related pullback has helped some companies make gains on sustainability goals, a trend that could continue. Most respondents said they’ll reduce their corporate-travel spending for 2025 by 10% or less for sustainability reasons.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• How Boston is using influencers to boost local businesses and diversify tourism
• Mood Board: Hulu IDs show off artists’ takes on streaming TV
• Roku is the latest media company to roll out a clean room