THE CASE FOR THE REAL WORLD
The numbers behind the real world.
None of these are our numbers. Every figure on this page is someone else's published research, named below each one.
Ads cost more every year.
The average customer costs about 60% more to acquire through paid channels than five years ago. The ads did not get better — they got more expensive.
A Spotted program meets the same customer in person — and the list it builds gets cheaper to reach every year, not more expensive.
+60%
rise in customer acquisition cost over five years
Source: SimplicityDX / Paddle CAC research
Indexed CAC
Much of the internet isn't people.
More than half of all web traffic is now automated, and malicious bots alone account for roughly a third. Online, brands pay to reach traffic. In the real world there is no such thing as a fake person.
Every customer a Spotted program captures is a verified human — they were standing there.
53%
share of web traffic that is automated, not human
Source: Imperva Bad Bot Report, 2026
A third of your audience blocks you.
About one in three American internet users runs an ad blocker. They are disproportionately the young, affluent audience brands pay the most to reach.
Nobody blocks a great experience. People line up for it.
32.5%
of Americans use ad blockers
Source: GWI, Q2 2025
Fraud takes its cut first.
Advertisers lost an estimated $84 billion to ad fraud in a single year, on track to double within five. That money bought nothing at all.
In the field, you can see what you paid for. It's a line of people.
$84B
global ad spend lost to fraud in one year
Source: Juniper Research, 2023
The real world drives the internet.
Nielsen found out-of-home the most efficient offline medium at driving online activity — about four times the online activations per dollar of TV, radio, or print. Nearly half of adults search for a brand after encountering it in the real world.
A Spotted program doesn't wait for the search — the customer signs up on the spot.
4x
online activations per ad dollar vs TV, radio, and print
Source: Nielsen / OAAA Online Activation Study
Online activations per ad dollar
Experience sells.
Two in three consumers say they're more likely to buy after interacting with a brand at a live event. No other medium gets a customer to spend twenty minutes with a brand voluntarily.
And unlike an impression, the customer leaves a name.
2 in 3
consumers more likely to purchase after a live brand experience
Source: EventTrack (Event Marketer), 2025