Bot fraud saw 69% surge in 2022

Bot fraud saw a significant surge of 69% in 2022 compared to the previous year. This is one of the many findings of 2023 Global Insights Report by DoubleVerify (DV), the digital media measurement, data and analytics platform.

The report says that the number of CTV fraud schemes and variants detected annually by DV has tripled since 2020. Advertisers without proper protection face significant risks.

According to the report, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) has recently emerged as the region with the highest instances of brand suitability violations compared to other global regions.

The report has analysed trends from almost 5.5 trillion media transactions across over 1,000 customers in about 100 countries.

Despite a 15 percent reduction in fraud/SIVT (Sophisticated Invalid Traffic) violations in 2022, EMEA has experienced a significant surge in brand suitability violations, reaching a staggering 10.6 percent. This marks a concerning 13 percent increase from the previous year, firmly establishing EMEA as the region with the highest occurrence of such violations.

Advertisers are increasingly adopting attention-based measurement to optimize campaign performance and improve return on investment (ROI), especially in the face of economic uncertainty and identity deprecation. EMEA campaigns stand out for their ability to capture attention through high exposure and engagement across display and video placements.

The report shows major digital media quality trends, and establishes the need for verification across channels for creating the foundation for impactful performance.

“Based on our research, in order to drive consistent performance, it is essential that advertisers engage verification across all campaigns and environments. When verification is turned off or not applied, an advertiser becomes vulnerable to the swings in quality caused by unpredictable news cycles and increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes. Moreover, always-on protection helps the industry maintain a common and consistent gauge of media quality everywhere, as verification techniques evolve to encompass emerging channels for content consumption. Having coverage, protection and insight into all channels is critical,” says Collette Spagnolo, Vice President of Marketing Analytics at DoubleVerify.

Key findings:

CTV consumption is on the rise, but it remains vulnerable to fraud. According to eMarketer, advertisers are projected to spend nearly $24 billion on CTV advertising in 2023. The Global Insights Report indicates that CTV consumption and quality verification in the UK have grown by an impressive 252% year-over-year. However, as investment in CTV advertising increases, so does the risk of fraud.
CTV ad fraud involves deceptive tactics aimed at generating revenue by inflating video ad impressions. Fraudsters use bots or fake CTV devices to simulate viewership, deceiving advertisers into paying for ads that are either non-existent or never viewed.
To illustrate the risk, DV compared fraud rates of protected and unprotected advertisers. The campaign without verification measures in place experienced a fraud rate of 11.2%, whereas the protected campaigns had a significantly lower fraud rate of 0.6% – a difference of nearly 18 times.
Most advertisers currently run campaigns on sites or apps with low attention rates. However, DV's analysis reveals a significant inventory available that could deliver better attention and performance if utilized effectively.

“Today, the average person is exposed to between 6,000 to 10,000 ads a day. As such, attention has emerged as a vital, yet, an increasingly scarce resource. Attention-based metrics such as exposure and engagement have emerged to help marketers better understand the overall relevance and resonance of an ad experience — and how that experience translates to driving high-value business outcomes,” said Nick Reid, SVP and Managing Director of EMEA at DoubleVerify.