It does matter though. They don't say they want 10000 clicks in a vacuum. They pay for that many clicks because the math tells them it should be worth $1k in

It does matter though. They don't say they want 10000 clicks in a vacuum. They pay for that many clicks because the math tells them it should be worth $1k in revenue. In reality someone is manipulating the math They should have been able to dedicate half the money for the same revenue, or the same money for double the rev, in your scenario. Put another way, the estimate is that they pay out $500 for $2k in revenue, then someone came in and dumped a bunch of bots in the way and ate away half their revenue. It's not like those empty clicks are people who just weren't compelled to buy what they were selling. They are bots intentionally disrupting commerce.