Pixalate Reveals Top 10 Connected TV (CTV) Ad Fraud Types in August 2024

Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and mobile advertising, released the Top 10 Connected TV (CTV) Ad Fraud Types in August 2024 for Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Samsung Smart TV.

The reports cover invalid traffic (IVT) and ad fraud measured across CTV app stores, including the number of distinct apps impacted and the share of voice of each IVT type. The reports also reveal the top 10 apps in each respective app store with the highest IVT rates in August 2024, according to Pixalate’s data.

To compile the research in this series, Pixalate’s data science team analysed over 1.9 million open programmatic advertising impressions and over 5,800 mapped CTV apps across Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Samsung TV in August 2024. IVT types are rated ‘most common’ according to the share of invalid traffic within each CTV app store, as per Pixalate’s methodology.

Top Ad Fraud Types on CTV Apps in August 2024, as measured by Pixalate

• Amazon Fire TV:App Spoofing was found to be the most common IVT type, comprising 42% of total IVT and impacting 833 apps
  • ‘NewsChannel 13 KRDO’ app had the highest IVT rate at 50% in August 2024, according to Pixalate’s data

• Apple TV: App Spoofing accounted for 46% of IVT, while Proxy IVT impacted the most apps (518)
  • ‘AMC: Stream TV Shows & Movies’ shared the highest  IVT rate seen across the platform at 42% in August 2024, according to Pixalate’s data
    
• Samsung Smart TV: Proxy IVT accounted for 58% of IVT across Samsung Smart TV apps, with App Spoofing at 35%
  • 225 apps affected by App Spoofing
  • ‘Haystack News: Free Local ＆ World News’ had the highest IVT rate (45%) in August 2024, according to Pixalate’s data

• Roku: App Spoofing constituted 45% of IVT, affecting 1,907 apps
  • ‘Latin American Wonders’ had the highest IVT rate (51%) in August 2024, according to Pixalate’s data

For the purposes of this report, "Bundle ID (App) Spoofing" indicates impressions in which the app identifier reported to the exchange does not match the characteristics of the app detected by Pixalate. "Proxy" is defined as  impressions from an intermediary proxy device that exists to manipulate traffic counts, pass non­-human or invalid traffic, or fails to comply with the protocol. For more information on IVT types, visit Pixalate’s IVT knowledge base.

Top CTV Ad Fraud Types by Platform

• Samsung Smart TV
• Amazon Fire TV
• Apple TV
• Roku