The Hidden Economics of Made-for-Advertising Sites in 2026: A Data Study

An academic research study quantifying the financial flows sustaining the made-for-advertising site ecosystem in programmatic advertising, based on analysis of over 50 million ad impressions. The study finds that MFA sites still capture an estimated 15-20% of open programmatic spend despite industry cleanup efforts, and identifies the structural DSP incentives that perpetuate the problem. The research proposes a supply path transparency scoring framework as a potential industry remedy.

An academic research study quantifying the financial flows sustaining the made-for-advertising site ecosystem in programmatic advertising, based on analysis of over 50 million ad impressions. The study finds that MFA sites still capture an estimated 15-20% of open programmatic spend despite industry cleanup efforts, and identifies the structural DSP incentives that perpetuate the problem. The research proposes a supply path transparency scoring framework as a potential industry remedy.