Protecting Advertisers From Fraud Across CTV Buys

In January of 2020, DV created the first certification program for programmatic platforms to protect advertisers from fraud and invalid traffic (IVT) in the CTV space. This certification is awarded to platforms who have proven their ability to avoid fraud on CTV devices using DV’s pre-bid app and device fraud protection.

We’re pleased to announce that we recently added more partners to the certification including Adform, Beeswax, Tremor Video and Unruly. These platforms join the growing list of certified platforms.

DV’s CTV Certification Program in Action

Fraud happens throughout the entire digital advertising ecosystem, and CTV is no exception. In fact, in 2020, non-certified programmatic platforms saw a CTV fraud rate that was 11 times higher than certified partners. Further, DV detected, on average, 1.2 times more fraud on direct buys than in DV-certified marketplaces. These protective services effectively level the playing field between programmatic and direct buying — making programmatic buying even safer from fraud than direct IOs.

“CTV continues to provide exciting opportunities with strong growth potential and high levels of engagement, “ said Gustav Mellentin, EVP & Co-founder of Adform. “DV’s CTV Targeting Certification provides testament to their leadership in the space.”

The CTV Environments Is Susceptible to Fraud

Fraud follows the money, and with media budgets flowing to CTV, bad actors are turning their attention to developing new CTV fraud schemes. For example, OctoBot, an interconnected “family” of CTV-focused fraud schemes has generated billions of ad calls and spoofed thousands of apps and millions of devices since 2019 — all with the intention to defraud advertisers out of billions of dollars. DV caught the most recent variant of Octobot and shut it down within 24 hours.

Even more recently, DV’s Fraud Lab identified and blocked a crafty fraud scheme called SmokeScreen, which targets real CTV devices through screensavers installed by users. But these are just a few  examples. According to our 2021 Global Insights Report, fraud tactics are constantly evolving. In 2020, bot fraud made up 78% of fraud/SIVT violations on CTV, and DV identified more than 1,800 fraudulent CTV apps. Not only that, DV’s dedicated Fraud Lab works diligently around the clock, detecting 500,000 new fraudulent device signatures every day.

“As CTV achieves critical mass as an effective media channel for engaging consumers, developing innovative ways to combat ad fraud is imperative for our industry,” said Karim Rayes, Chief Product Officer of Tremor International. “With our new CTV Targeting Certification, through our partnership with DoubleVerify, we can offer our clients an additional layer of fraud protection to help them preserve the integrity of their CTV campaigns.”

DV Has You Covered

DV’s Fraud identification leverages custom-built algorithms and detection methods that do not require the use of an SDK or custom integration. DV has taken a bespoke approach to combat fraud on CTV, with strategies combining human expertise and machine learning that include:

• Fraud analysts specializing in CTV inventory and the app ecosystem
• Dedicated hardware lab with advanced capabilities to reverse-engineer CTV threats
• Unique machine-learning features and algorithms designed specifically to solve for fraud prevalent in CTV
• Specialized telemetry to identify CTV fraud, with the biggest threats originating from SSAI abuse, app spoofing, and bots

Finally, DV also received MRC accreditation for ad impression measurement and SIVT, including app fraud in CTV. At the end of the day, we want to ensure ads are seen by real human beings, allowing advertisers to be confident in their media investment.

To learn more about DV’s CTV Fraud Targeting Certification or any of our CTV solutions, please contact programmaticsales@doubleverify.com.