• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, April 29, 2020

Comcast’s FreeWheel ad-server business has expanded its relationship with fraud-prevention company White Ops to include pre-bid bot protection capabilities.

The enhancement enables programmatic ad impressions passing through FreeWheel platforms — including connected TV platforms — to be verified as human before any transaction is made, according to the companies.

Bots are increasingly being used to perpetrate large-scale ad-buying frauds. CTV purchased programmatically is particularly vulnerable to ad scams fraud because of its high CPMs. Fraudsters have in some cases misrepresented lower-priced desktop or mobile units as higher-priced CTV units and pocketed the difference.