The digital bubble: built on numbers

Thoughtful China’s episode on data inflation highlights a systemic maze:

• Data from web publishers is often grossly inflated, by approximately two times the internationally accepted threshold for discrepancies
• Mid-level marketing managers would rather let the inflated data continue to make them look good than ask inconvenient questions (“Nobody wants to say the emperor has no clothes, because everyone’s benefiting”)
• The not-quite-foolproof method for international brands wanting to “do the right thing” is to use tried and tested publishers that are certified or have other MNCs on their books

The semi-rational bubble of optimism currently surrounding digital marketing in China is at least partly attributable to the accountability it claims to offer. And this bubble could well be punctured in due course, when brands don’t see the unfakeable business impact their investment warrants.

Aside: the host’s references to “one in every three results is fake” (1:27 and 8:43) don’t sound like an accurate summary of the inflation issue.

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