CTV Ad Fraud Scheme, SneakyTerra, Discovered

Another CTV ad fraud scheme has hit servers in recent weeks -- the second one discovered this year -- with a estimated advertising cost of $5 million per month, according to DoubleVerify.

This follows the ParrotTerra scheme discovered in February by DoubleVerify, estimated to have cost a much greater $30 million to $50 million in ad dollars, spoofing some 3.7 million devices.

DoubleVerify says the current SneakyTerra hack purchases real impressions. Then SneakyTerra inserts impression trackers from multiple ads into one creative from an ad server. When an actual CTV platform receives the creative request, all impression trackers respond, generating multiple impressions.

The platform says the SneakyTerra hack got to over 2 million devices each day, costing advertisers more than $5 million per month, based on an average $20 CPM across CTV.

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In 2020, DoubleVerify identified more than 10 of these CTV fraud schemes.

“Fraud follows the money, and the revenue opportunities in CTV are growing rapidly,” stated Mark Zagorski, CEO at DoubleVerify. Zagorski is referring to increasingly high levels of ad dollars now following to CTV -- especially high-priced, premium streaming video inventory.

Estimates are the total CTV marketplace could amass $11 billion in advertising revenue in 2021.

Earlier this year, DoubleVerify got Media Rating Council accreditation for CTV. This includes display and video rendered ad impression measurement and invalid traffic (SIVT) filtration, including app fraud, on connected TV.

1 comment about "CTV Ad Fraud Scheme, SneakyTerra, Discovered".
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  1. Darrin Stephens from McMann & Tate, March 5, 2021 at 7:31 a.m.

    If history has taught us anything (besides that you can kill anyone), it's that advertisers/agencies will tolerate digital ad fraud, no matter how rampant.

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