Study finds CTV fraud spiking

Amidst the COVID pandemic many brands have had to find alternative ways to engage and deliver content to their consumers. One of those ways has been the Connected TV (CTV) space, but while more people are streaming content - a good thing for marketers - there are also more bad actors pushing fraudulent traffic into the space.

by Kristina Knight

According to DoubleVerify, the company is now identifying a half-million fraudulent CTV devices per day, a big problem is a space that is so new for many brands and merchants. This spike in fraud is linked to the COVID pandemic because the sudden increase in streaming content as consumers were locked down at home is linked to the sudden spike in fraudulent traffic. Researchers say that between January and April of 2020 there was a 161% increase in fraudulent CTV traffic.

The top tactics these fraudsters are using are spoofing, in which they buy lower-quality CTV inventory and then repackage the ad calls to appear like premium CTV inventory for resale, fraudulent apps, in which fraudsters create and sell their own nefarious apps and release them to app stores, and SSAI fraud, in which fraudsters create servers or buy cloud space to fake information about impressions and traffic.

Through Q1 2020, researchers with DoubleVerify found more than 500 fraudulent apps, more than was found through the entire 2019 calendar year. Other interesting findings from the report include:

▪ 23% of CTV ad auctions have app names adhering to IAB conventions
▪ Each app can have up to 15 IDs, many of which can be easily spoofed
▪ Fraudsters release apps using real content to gain access to legit app stores, then flip the app to defraud marketers of ad spend

More data from DoubleVerify can be accessed here.

Tags: ad fraud trends, advertising, advertising fraud, CTV ad fraud, CTV ad trends, CTV advertising, DoubleVerify