If you advertise in streaming sports content, eyes up: Not every fan watching the action, or your ads, is human.
KickBot, a falsification scheme the DV Fraud Lab uncovered during the World Cup this summer, is still kicking, targeting live sports programming on CTV. As major events approach, including the MLB World Series and the NFL season, this scheme could severely impact unprotected campaigns.
Human Viewers Stay During Overtime
KickBot is engineered to siphon premium ad budgets by generating fake views during sports broadcasts. It’s a highly specialized evolution in ad fraud. Nevertheless, the DV Fraud Lab was able to swiftly spot, contain and mitigate the threat for our advertiser customers by identifying some very nonhuman behavior.
During the World Cup, the KickBot scheme closely mimicked real viewing sessions, with scripts hardcoded for the length of a standard soccer match. DV’s fraud fighters got suspicious when these sessions ended abruptly at the 90-minute mark, even when games went into overtime or penalty shootouts. Real fans wouldn’t stop watching during these crucial moments.
By training our AI agents to account for behavioral context and the unpredictable length of live sports, we easily distinguished inflexible bots from passionate viewers and instantly flagged this unnatural pattern on millions of sessions.
Fake Fans Create Real Losses Off the Field
The premium inventory associated with major sports events comes with premium pricing. The $50+ CPM for top-tier live sports inventory is among the highest in CTV. That makes it a magnet for fraudsters, who aggressively pursue schemes that can mimic these lucrative streams.
KickBot inflicted massive losses on advertisers. Over just three months, dozens of brands paid premium CPMs for CTV “traffic” that turned out to be entirely fake. Among the verticals that were hit during earlier phases of this scheme were a global spirits brand, a national political campaign, a global airline and a fast-food chain.
Even at a small scale, the financial fallout can escalate quickly. A scheme like KickBot can result in millions in losses as soon as programmatic bidding surges with game traffic. During these spikes, it’s easy for unmonitored campaigns to inadvertently absorb fraudulent impressions.
DV Is on Your Team
Fraudsters can strike at any moment, especially during high-stakes games, and ad fraud rings often stay under the radar until major events drive up demand. Thanks to early detection, DV was able to keep KickBot at bay. 
DV has shut down thousands of web, in-app and streaming TV/CTV fraud properties and schemes over the past few years. By providing enhanced fraud detection coverage that keeps pace with the growth in fraud attempts, we help keep the industry, and your ad dollars, safe.
Next Steps
Contact a DV representative.
Learn more about DV fraud protections.
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