People have been buying ineffective ads since the invention of ads

zero clicks is a little different

Bots do click in real ad fraud, so your moved goalpost isn't all that solid

sorry, conversions is really what I meant. if the bots are also buying the stuff then it would work.

I'm not really concerned with whether it would work out in a way that was beneficial for the ad network or their customers. Either they figure out a way to make it work such that they continue to be a useful pipe, or they don't and then maybe they'll have to shut down and find something more productive to do with their time. We'll have done the public a service either way.

Not really, advertising is really the only field of human endeavour that is both data-driven and results-oriented.

(Doesn't still stop smart people from committing fraud, but that is a different story.)

Unfortunately I beg to differ. I worked for several companies where we the management clearly saw that the results were very poor (for Facebook ads, for example) but continued to invest because there is a defined budget for it and so on. It was like this last year and 20 years ago.

these companies should be outcompeted by firms that don't blow a million dollars a month paying out to click fraudsters but alas the market is not perfectly competitive

is it a cargo cult? it works for coca cola so maybe if we just spend a little more we'll see returns...

Yes, I feel it might be cargo cult, at least in part. The argument I usually heard was that "But other companies are doing that, too".

Yes, most fraud is inside the corporate structure. Not shady "hacker" types in Romania.