Industry Click Fraud Rate Holds at 16.2 Percent in Second Quarter 2008

Botnets Grow to Make Up More than 25 Percent of All Click Fraud
AUSTIN, Texas--(Business Wire)--
Click Forensics(TM), Inc. today released industry pay-per-click
(PPC) fraud figures for the second quarter 2008 from the search
advertising industry's leading independent click fraud reporting
service - the Click Fraud Index(TM) (www.ClickFraudIndex.com).

Now in its third year, the Click Fraud Index monitors and reports
on data gathered from the Click Fraud Network(TM), which more than
4,000 online advertisers and agencies have joined. The Click Fraud
Network provides statistically significant industry PPC data collected
from online advertising campaigns for both large and small companies
across all the leading search engines. Key findings from data reported
for Q2 2008 include:

-- The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.2 percent
for Q2 2008. That's down slightly from the 16.3 percent rate
reported for Q1 2008 and up from the 15.8 percent click fraud
rate reported for Q2 2007.

-- The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing
on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense
and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 27.6 percent. That's down
from the 27.8 percent rate reported for Q1 2008 and up from
the 25.6 percent average click fraud rate reported for Q1
2007.

-- For the first time, traffic from botnets was responsible for
more than 25 percent of all click fraud traffic in Q2 2008.

-- In Q2 2008, the greatest percentage of click fraud originating
from countries outside North America came from China (4.3
percent), Russia (3.5 percent), and France (3.2 percent).

"Although click fraud rates were relatively unchanged in the
second quarter, we found that the methods used to commit click fraud
have become increasingly more sophisticated and difficult to detect,"
said Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics. "The threat from
botnets is the biggest concern as they have grown to cause over one
quarter of all click fraud. Online advertisers should be extra
vigilant in watching for traffic from botnets in their search
marketing campaigns."

The Click Fraud Index publishes data collected from the Click
Fraud Network (www.ClickFraudNetwork.com), the industry's first
independent third-party click fraud detection service dedicated to
helping companies more accurately monitor their online advertising
campaigns for pay-per-click fraud. Click fraud data is tracked and
published on a quarterly basis for specific search providers,
industries and trends. The service is unique in that it monitors
online campaigns for click fraud by correlating data collected from
search provider campaigns and the advertisers' own web sites -
providing the industry's most accurate view of click fraud to date.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics is the leading provider of PPC traffic quality
management and click fraud prevention solutions that help online
advertisers and publishers stop click fraud and improve search
marketing campaigns. The company also publishes the Click Fraud
Index(TM), the top independent source of industry click fraud data.
Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately
held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures and Shasta
Ventures. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is
available at www.ClickForensics.com.

Click Forensics, Click Fraud Index and Click Fraud Network are
trademarks of Click Forensics, Inc. All other company and product
names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

For Click Forensics
Karl Scholz, 512-493-0909
karl.scholz@clickforensics.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008