Processes like monitoring data to make sure volume estimates and actual traffic align, enforcing app-ads.txt requirements, and using internal and third-party invalid traffic detection technology make a big difference. The impact on our buyers from any of the recent ad fraud schemes has been nearly non-existent.

In an October 2020 post titled “Fearmongering in CTV Advertising,” Comscore stated that it detected a CTV post-bid invalid traffic rate that was slightly higher than 1%. The article advised ad buyers to “separate marketing talking points from fact” when analyzing CTV ad fraud. Other sources we spoke with believed CTV ad fraud was common.

Advertising fraud, defined as the practice of falsifying traffic or traffic-related activities in order to charge advertisers for impressions, clicks or other actions that never occurred in earnest, takes two forms: general invalid traffic and sophisticated invalid traffic.

In a post titled “Fearmongering in CTV Advertising,” Comscore stated that it detected a CTV post-bid invalid traffic rate that was slightly higher than 1 percent. The article advised ad buyers to “separate marketing talking points from fact” when analyzing CTV ad fraud. Other sources believed CTV ad fraud was common.

“A lot of the focus on what trade groups can do together is on the fraud or the sophisticated invalid traffic. It's also important to note the general invalid traffic, which is the stuff that's not crime; it's just that sites get crawled by various spiders and things like that. It's part of how the internet works, and brands shouldn't have to pay for it.

Ongoing issues with invalid traffic and brand safety. These remain key issues in China’s digital advertising landscape, and they are motivating factors for brands to seek out programmatic direct placements for a sense of security. Real-Time Bidding. RTB digital display ad spending in China will rise 22.7% to reach $9.84 billion (RMB65.11 billion) in 2019.

While fraud detection rates in the open markets vary, firms like Integral Ad Science and Pixalate ballpark invalid traffic in those exchanges at around 15% to 20%. Facebook, which made headlines last year for deactivating more than a billion duplicate or fake accounts, reported that the core property had 2.32 billion users worldwide as of December 2018.

For example, Integral Ad Science, a leading digital ad verification firm, recently announced an expansion of its Threat Lab initiative, designed “to find, catch, and protect against malicious invalid traffic and fraud” in relation to online ads. Some media owners are rethinking their approach to programmatic. Criteo’s Grabowski anticipated major changes on this front.

“Fraud and invalid traffic rates will persist in 2019,” she said. “The CPMs in this environment are high, making OTT appealing to fraudsters. And with today’s advanced technologies, it’s inevitable that these newer forms [of advertising] will remain a target, especially with relatively few companies able to measure fraud levels in connected TV and OTT.”.

Among other things, the CoC clearly illustrates that all parties bear responsibility for ad quality, data protection and security—while other aspects, such as invalid traffic or audience fraud, fall under the remit of individual parties. Glispa Connect’s Christou noted that transparency is actually a must-have for the digital industry.

Martech company AdMaster reported three consecutive years of decline in invalid ad traffic (IVT), which stood at 28.8% in H1 2018. A white paper released by data analytics company Gridsum also identified a drop in IVT between 2016 and 2017. According to industry experts, however, fraudsters’ operations are becoming more organized as they deploy ever-more sophisticated ad fraud technology.