• by Wayne Friedman , June 14, 2019

The report says overall fraud -- looking at display, video and mobile -- registered a 3.4% rate in North America, for the May 2018 to April 2019 period.

Global incidents were essentially flat year-over-year -- 3.1% in 2019 versus 3.5% in 2018.

But the report also says connected TV and mobile app fraud is up 120% over the last 12 months versus the year before. For CTV, 86% comes from “bot fraud,” with 54% mobile app incidences coming from app/sites fraud.

“We anticipate this figure will continue to rise, especially in CTV, as fraudsters target this premium, high-growth environment,” said the authors of the report.

Research also shows viewability -- both of video (across all devices) and mobile apps -- continues to improve. For all video, it is now up to 62% in 2019 from 59% year ago. Looking at mobile apps -- video and display -- viewability is now at 73% and 70% respectively.

That said, these results still defy expectations. “This positive trend is encouraging, but still falls short of both IAB standards and advertisers’ growing demand for 100% viewability.”

Global brand-safety issues posted a 6.5% number in 2019 -- a slight rise from 6.2% the year before. But mobile app incidents were grew sharply -- up 194% this year over last.

The report surveyed 75 countries and more than 1,000 brands between May 2018 and April 2019, compared with the May 2017 to April 2018 period.