Dive Brief:
- DoubleVerify, a maker of ad authentication software, this week rolled out what it says is the industry's first certification program to detect ad fraud and invalid traffic (IVT) on connected TV (CTV), per an announcement. To qualify for certification, a platform must show it can prevent fraud and IVT by using the company's pre-bid app and device fraud protection for CTV.
- Amobee, MediaMath, SpotX, The Trade Desk and AT&T's Xandr are the first ad tech platforms to receive DoubleVerify's certification. The company's fraud identification uses algorithms and detection methods that don't require an SDK or custom integration, per its announcement.
- As part of the rollout of the certification program, DoubleVerify published a guide titled "The ABCs of CTV" to provide more information about best practices for measuring CTV media quality and performance.
Dive Insight:
DoubleVerify's certification program extends the company's experience in authentication for programmatic advertising to the growing market for over-the-top (OTT) video services. As millions of U.S. households cancel cable and satellite TV in favor of connecting their TVs directly to the internet, marketers are shifting their media dollars to platforms with video ad insertions. However, vulnerabilities exist in the CTV ad market that can be exploited to defraud advertisers, as DoubleVerify explains in its guidebook.
Fraudulent apps, server-side ad insertion (SSAI) bots and other bot schemes are some of most common ways that fraudsters can generate fake viewership that costs advertisers money. Fraudulent CTV apps create automated, fabricated views from non-existent devices, spoof the "app name" parameter to appear as if they are CTV ads or play ads back-to-back, according to DoubleVerify. SSAI is more common in CTV to provide a more seamless viewing experience, but can be exploited to spoof identification methods.
Tackling CTV ad fraud is a necessary step in supporting the growth of a burgeoning content-delivery platform that eMarketer estimates will reach $14.1 billion in ad spending by 2023. CTV significantly extends the reach of advertising over standard ad experiences, according to a study by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and analytics firm Innovid. By personalizing ads, marketers can improve the likelihood that their brand messaging reaches target audiences on OTT platforms and streaming services that carry ads, their study suggests.