DoubleVerify Global Insights Report: As Ad Dollars Move to Connected TV, Fraud Schemes Spike 70% Globally

DoubleVerify (“DV”), a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, released its 2022 Global Insights Report, analyzing media quality and performance trends from more than one trillion impressions delivered across over 2,100 brands in 80 markets. This fifth year anniversary report explores how far the industry has come since 2017.

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“The good news is that verification is working,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO, DoubleVerify. “DV’s first-ever Global Insights Report, published in 2017, reported display viewable rates at 52% and video viewable rates at 59%. Now, they are near or above 70%. Additionally we saw brand safety violations decrease for the second year in a row, while the number of fraud schemes we were able to protect our clients from increased. Based on our stats, it is clear that verification technology is making the internet stronger, safer and more secure.”

The report provides a market-by-market analysis for North America, LATAM, EMEA and APAC across video and display impressions measured year-over-year (YoY) from January-December 2021, including desktop and mobile web, mobile app, and connected TV (CTV). Key takeaways from our analysis this year include:

Record Spike in Fraud Schemes, Driven by CTV and Video — The number of fraud schemes uncovered by DV spiked by over 70% year-over-year from 2020 to 2021. This year, an unprecedented number of schemes targeted CTV and video – the most complex and sophisticated of which included OctoBot, SneakyTerra, ViperBot and SmokeScreen. We estimate these schemes alone attempted to steal more than $6-8 million each month from advertisers – and are costing publishers, too. DV estimates show that these CTV schemes alone may have siphoned $140 million from publishers in 2021.

Brand Safety Violations Decrease for 2nd Year in a Row — The post-bid brand suitability violation rate continues to fall, and is now 9% lower than last year for an overall rate of 7.1% – meaning advertisers see brand suitability violation rates decrease as their verification strategy matures. DV also saw momentum for a brand safety and suitability floor. In 2019, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and the 4A’s released the brand safety floor and suitability framework. The brand safety floor identifies topics and content that are considered unsafe and never appropriate for monetization. Ninety-three percent of the advertisers DV analyzed leverage at least one brand safety floor category for avoidance, blocking and or monitoring, and 61% use all floor categories.