As efforts to tackle digital ad fraud are paying off in established channels, it appears that the criminals have switched their focus to emerging channels like CTV, according to a new study.

The growing CTV ecosystem is now the most targeted environment for fraudsters, DoubleVerify says in its Global Insights Report 2020.

The analytics business reported a 161% increase in fraudulent CTV traffic rates in Q1 2020 vs. Q1 2019.

It has also identified 1,300 fraudulent CTV apps since March 2019 – with 60% of those detected in 2020 alone – and found that more than three quarters (78%) of fraud incidents on CTV are accounted for by bots (compared with 26% of overall fraud incidents).

“Fraud follows ad spend — especially within emerging channels like CTV, where measurement technologies are not widely adopted and demand outstrips supply,” the report noted.

While CTV fraud impacts both programmatic and direct buying channels, inventory transacted through DoubleVerify-certified programmatic marketplaces claimed the lowest incidence of fraud, followed by direct and other programmatic supply.

Non-certified programmatic CTV saw a Fraud Rate over 11x higher than CTV transacted through DoubleVerify-certified marketplaces, it added, and approximately 9x higher than publisher-direct buys.

“Brands need clarity and confidence in their digital investments,” said Tanzil Bukhari, Managing Director, EMEA at DoubleVerify. “This report shows that … emerging channels with unestablished standards like CTV present a growing challenge when it comes to ad fraud and brand safety.

“Moving forward, advertisers and publishers must challenge the status quo and collaborate on driving standards, building best-practices and embracing technology to set a solid baseline which is underpinned by quality and can exceed performance.” 

Sourced from DoubleVerify