VAB puts US programmatic spend on AI slop at up to $978.7m.
The Video Advertising Bureau, the US television industry's marketing body, estimates that between $530.1m and $978.7m of US open-web programmatic spend goes on AI slop. It comes from a 25-page members' deck reported by PPC Land on 28 October.
The estimate is VAB's own arithmetic. It takes the ANA's finding that AI slop made up 1.3% to 2.4% of open-web programmatic spend in the first quarter of 2026 and applies it to eMarketer's $40.78bn projection for 2025 US programmatic display spending. The deck adds 11 more borrowed statistics, including Thales data putting bad bots at 40% of 2025 web traffic and FTC figures showing $2.1bn of US losses to scams that started on social media in 2025.
The underlying ANA study, run with TAG and Fiducia, found that slop inventory was graded premium more than 70% of the time and performed close to or better than clean supply on invalid traffic and viewability, which is why it is hard to filter out. Those findings are not in VAB's deck.
PPC Land's check of the deck found three figures that do not match their sources. A $1.2bn Meta share of social media scam losses leaves out Instagram's $234m. A $4.6bn cost of fake influencer followers does not follow from the method given, which would produce about $8.9bn. And FTC shares of loss reports by age are labelled as shares of dollars. The deck is undated, contains no new research, and comes from a body that sells TV against digital platforms.
The slop problem is not limited to the US. Gulf advertisers buying open-web programmatic in English and Arabic face the same risk, and nothing in the ANA's definition limits slop to English-language sites. The sensible response is to ask verification partners for page-level reporting on AI-generated content rather than relying on domain blocklists or quality grades alone.
Why it matters
Low-effort AI sites can grade as premium inventory, so buyers need page-level checks, not domain lists, to keep budgets away from them.
Related trends.
ADEX: AI helped build 52% of the ad fraud schemes it caught
Anti-fraud firm ADEX says AI played a significant role in 52% of the ad fraud schemes it identified between January and September 2026. It also predicts that in 2027 scammers will start targeting the AI agents that shop for people.
Why it mattersBrand cloning was common in the AI-built schemes, so legitimate advertisers are raw material for fraud even on platforms they never buy.
NielsenIQ: Saudi and UAE grocery shoppers move to value and premium
NielsenIQ's Consumer Outlook 2027 shows shoppers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE shifting grocery spend away from mainstream products towards value and premium ones, according to Communicate's report of 28 October. Communicate says the study covers more than 21,000 respondents in 31 countries and includes the UAE for the first time.
Why it mattersPremium is the biggest grocery tier in the UAE and close behind mainstream in Saudi Arabia. Figures come via Communicate and could not be matched to NielsenIQ's public report.
Brand experience agency Collaborate Global expands into Abu Dhabi
Collaborate Global, an independent brand experience agency, has expanded into Abu Dhabi. It will chase destination marketing, government campaigns, international roadshows and large brand experiences from the emirate.
Why it mattersDestination and government roadshows are a large experiential budget line in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, and more agencies are setting up locally to compete for them.
