MRC Updates 'Sophisticated Invalid Traffic' Accreditation: comScore Claims First For Both Content, Campaigns

by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, November 7, 2016

comScore has been granted accreditation for its “sophisticated invalid traffic” (SIVT) detecting and filtering desktop and mobile Web traffic by industry watchdog, the Media Rating Council (MRC).

The accreditation, which was announced as part of an update on the current status of accredited services, as well as those that have lost their accreditation, published by the MRC (see table).

comScore claims it make it the first company to be accredited to offer both content and campaign measurement leveraging MRC-accredited SIVT filtration, providing the market with consistent and filtered metrics for the planning, buying, selling, and evaluation of digital advertising.”

Rival Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) service also received accreditation as part of the update.

comScore estimates that 80% of invalid traffic is “sophisticated,” meaning it was part of some form of fraud or malware intended to pose as authentic human traffic.

comScore’s SIVT detection methodology joins its previously accredited services -- on the MRC’s roster.

3 comments about "MRC Updates 'Sophisticated Invalid Traffic' Accreditation: comScore Claims First For Both Content, Campaigns".

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Joshua Chasin from VideoAmp, November 7, 2016 at 2:05 p.m.
An important distinction to note. The table reproduced here is for General Invalid Traffic (GIVT.) The MRC has identified two tiers of IVT for identification and filtration-- general, which may be seen as table stakes; and sophisticated, which is an additional and more rigorous layer. To date, only three companies have announced accreditation for Sophisticated IVT-- White Ops, Integral, and comScore. The other providers listed here are compliant (although not necessarily audited yet) for GIVT.

For more on the difference between GIVT and SIVT, see the final published guidelines:
http://mediaratingcouncil.org/101515_IVT%20Addendum%20FINAL%20(Version%201.0).pdf
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Tony Jarvis from Olympic Media Consultancy, November 8, 2016 at 11:36 a.m.

Joe/Josh
It appears that the formally accredited White Ops Fraud Sensor product is missing from the published list from MRC and reproduced by MediaPost? In this increasingly hairy digital world clarification would be appreciated.
Congrats to comScore and to MRC for serving the industry albeit based on "minimum standards".

David Gunzerath from MRC, November 11, 2016 at 1:04 p.m.

Joe, thanks for your attention to this issue. I’d like to clarify a few primary points for the readers:

On Nov. 7th, MRC issued an update (http://www.mediaratingcouncil.org/110216 IVT Guidelines GIVT compliance update_final.pdf) on the status of digital measurers’ compliance with General Invalid Traffic requirements only; these are requirements that apply to ANY MRC-accredited digital measurer.

Additionally, while comScore was indeed recently accredited by MRC for Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT), Nielsen DAR has not been accredited for SIVT detection.

Lastly, comScore joins White Ops and Integral as the only measurers currently accredited for their SIVT capabilities: detection of SIVT for desktop and mobile web traffic.