Do you remember the “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” ads that ran in cinemas during the 2000s? Comparing film piracy to everyday theft, they were famous enough to inspire plenty of online parodies. Still, the campaign was retired in 2008 with little impact and today the problem has evolved; it isn’t just films being stolen, but the ads themselves.
Ad fraud now sees cybercriminals generating fake clicks, views and conversions for financial gain. With losses forecast to reach $172bn by 2028, and marketers under increasing pressure to demonstrate ROI, the need for a more transparent and efficient advertising model has never been greater. Yet despite years of debate, solutions remain fragmented. Fraud and inefficiency are structural challenges, and they require infrastructure-level answers.
Fortunately a new generation of on chain platforms is beginning to meet this need by rebuilding advertising from the ground up. They automate trust, enable outcome-based buying, and bring programmatic onto the blockchain, creating a space where advertisers, agencies and publishers can transact with confidence.
The broken state of digital advertising
The scale of the problem is stark. The portion of ad spend that doesn’t contribute to business goals, due to inefficiencies and fraud, has risen 34% since 2023 alone. With AI-driven bots multiplying online, there is now a risk that more ads are “viewed” by machines than by people, eroding value and driving down CPMs. Quick fixes such as audits and verification tools only address the symptoms rather than the cause.
As a result calls for better transparency and efficiency are only growing in the industry with advertisers even shifting their spend away from traditional giants like Google and The Trade Desk to alternatives like Amazon. Marketers are happy to move on in search of lower fees, stronger measurement, and more collaborative partnerships. At the same time, antitrust rulings and the emergence of new competitors such as OpenAI and ChatGPT are reshaping the industry landscape. These changes highlight a crucial point: patching legacy systems is no longer enough, structural transformation is essential.
Finding solutions in AI and On chain
Today’s opaque ad systems leave brands paying for poor conversion rates but moving ads on chain can resolve these challenges and provide a better path forward. On blockchain-powered ecosystems, advertising transactions can be recorded across a distributed network, creating a single, transparent source of truth. This is more than just a technical shift; it establishes a framework for efficiency, accountability and aligned incentives.
If brands can access high-quality audience data and directly serve consumers relevant ads, conversions will accelerate via better leads and greater ROI. Blockchain platforms are designed to give advertisers and publishers confidence. Brands can finally pay for outcomes rather than empty impressions and publishers will be rewarded fairly for genuine engagement.
Blockchain’s immutable records enable outcome-based models that tie spend to measurable results, restoring confidence and improving ROI. When combined with AI, the benefits extend further, reducing friction, automating trust, and ensuring every transaction is efficient, transparent and verifiable. Far from hype, this represents the foundations of a sustainable advertising ecosystem.
Putting publishers first: rewarding the engines of the open web
For all the talk about advertisers and agencies, it’s publishers who sit at the heart of this ecosystem and who often bear the brunt of its inefficiencies. They provide the content, creativity, and credibility that keep the internet free, yet are routinely short-changed by opaque intermediaries and fraudulent activity.
On-chain advertising changes this dynamic by recording transactions transparently and verifying engagement immutably, allowing publishers to finally receive payments that reflect the true value they create. With blockchain, revenue is no longer lost to bots, inflated metrics, or hidden fees. Instead, publishers are compensated instantly and fairly when their content drives verified engagement.
The technology also opens up new monetisation models through micropayments and smart contracts, enabling smaller or independent publishers to benefit from direct, automatic settlements. Most importantly, trust becomes an inherent feature of the system rather than something outsourced to third parties.
In this way, decentralised advertising represents genuine tech for good. It ensures that publishers can sustain high-quality journalism, maintain creative independence, and continue to provide the open, accessible internet we all rely on.
Would you steal a march?
Of course, transformation on this scale will only happen when businesses see clear benefits and smooth integration with the systems they already use. But it is not hard to see how blockchain is already delivering on a more efficient, transparent, and accountable ecosystem:
- Advertisers get to pay for real results (e.g., conversions, clicks, engagement) rather than just impressions, ensuring their spend is effective.
- Agencies should be rewarded for delivering actual outcomes rather than just managing spend.
- Publishers get compensated fairly when their content drives real engagement.
That is why the coming years are so pivotal. The industry can continue to patch over inefficiencies, or it can embrace infrastructure-level change that solves problems at their source. Those who take the latter path and adopt decentralisation today, will shape the next era of digital advertising.
Ben Putley
Ben Putley is CEO at Alkimi. Ben has over twelve years of experience in digital advertising, having sold seven-figure global influencer campaigns. Additionally, he led the European sales division of Sharethrough, working with clients like CNN, Forbes, and Daily Mail.
