While I haven't seen any real, meaningful efforts at spoofing analytics data (I vaguely recall some grad student project), I've certainly heard of companies spoofing their own analytics data to appear bigger than they are to interested parties.
More than one unscrupulous publisher has gamed comScore and Neilsen to pump up their reach figures and get access to more attractive advertisers.
Of course, scammers aren't going to use this service. There's a market selling verification services to advertisers, but there's a ton of companies in this area already - from my limited vantage point, Double Verify looks like the market leader.
Comments
While I haven't seen any real, meaningful efforts at spoofing analytics data (I vaguely recall some grad student project), I've certainly heard of companies spoofing their own analytics data to appear bigger than they are to interested parties.
More than one unscrupulous publisher has gamed comScore and Neilsen to pump up their reach figures and get access to more attractive advertisers.
Of course, scammers aren't going to use this service. There's a market selling verification services to advertisers, but there's a ton of companies in this area already - from my limited vantage point, Double Verify looks like the market leader.