To activate IVT (Invalid Traffic) scoring for your entities, follow these steps:
1. Enabling the Scoring Service
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Navigate to Tools
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Select Scoring Services.
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Click the plus (+) icon next to Protected Media (Post-bid)
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Accept the Terms and Conditions
2. Setting Caps for IVT Scoring
Once scoring is enabled, you need to define caps:
- Global Daily Cap: The maximum number of impressions scored across all entites.
- Per-Entity Cap:
- Daily Limit: Maximum impressions scored per entity per day
- Hourly Limit: Maximum impressions scored per entity per hour
As an example, if the Global Daily Cap is set to 1 million impressions, each source or campaign can be capped at 240,000 daily impressions and 10,000 hourly impressions.
3. Automating Scoring for New and Existing Campaigns
You can configure IVT scoring to automatically apply to newly created sources and campaigns, as well as existing entities.
New Entities:
Enable IVT scoring for all new entities or specify whether it applies to supply only or demand only.
Existing Entities:
- Choose to enable scoring for all existing entities or limit it to supply only, demand only, or custom existing entities.
- Selecting custom existing entities allows you to define specific advertisers, channels, campaigns, or sources that should be included.
Once you've selected your preferences, click Create to finalize the setup.
Alternatively, you can enable unlimited scanning, which applies scoring to all entities without restrictions.
4. Reports & Metrics
Types of Reports
- Basic Report – Provides a quick overview of valid vs. invalid traffic.
- Detailed Report – Uses a Protected Media (PM) template for in-depth analysis.
IVT Categories
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| View Fraud | Ads placed in non-viewable areas (e.g., hidden in iFrames). |
| Tunneled Traffic | Traffic masked via proxies, VPNs, or emulated devices to hide real geolocation. |
| SIVT | Harder-to-detect fraud requiring advanced analysis and intervention. |
| Reputation | Tracks the likelihood of an entity (publisher, website, user ID) engaging in fraud. |
| Publisher Fraud | Ads served on unauthorized websites or apps. |
| Non-Malicious Bots | Includes click farms and declared crawlers (e.g., Google’s search bot). |
| Known Crawlers | Identified bots from legitimate sources (e.g., Google, Meta). Not flagged as IVT. |
| Hostile Tools | Scripts and bots designed to evade security measures and disguise ad interactions. |
| GIVT | Easily detected invalid traffic filtered by standard parameters. |
| Bot/Virus | Automated programs that mimic human traffic to generate fraudulent impressions. |
| Automated & Emulated Activity | Fake traffic generated by bots, viruses, and automation tools. |
IVT Metric Descriptions:
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Total IVT Impressions – Total number of all Invalid Traffic (IVT) events.
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Total IVT Impressions, % – Share of IVT among all events (as a percentage).
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GIVT Impressions – Total number of General Invalid Traffic (GIVT) events.
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GIVT Impressions, % – Share of GIVT among all events (as a percentage).
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SIVT Impressions – Total number of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT) events.
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SIVT Impressions, % – Share of SIVT among all events (as a percentage).
Breakdown of GIVT:
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Total GIVT data centers – GIVT events identified as coming from data centers.
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GIVT data centers, % – Percentage of GIVT events from data centers.
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Total GIVT disclosed bots – GIVT events generated by disclosed bots.
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GIVT disclosed bots, % – Percentage of GIVT events from disclosed bots.
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Total GIVT known crawlers – GIVT events caused by known web crawlers.
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GIVT known crawlers, % – Percentage of GIVT events from known crawlers.
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Total GIVT irregular activity – GIVT events flagged due to irregular activity.
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GIVT irregular activity, % – Percentage of GIVT events from irregular activity.
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Total GIVT non-rendered ads – GIVT events where ads were not actually rendered.
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GIVT non-rendered ads, % – Percentage of GIVT events from non-rendered ads.
Breakdown of SIVT:
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Total SIVT proxy traffic – SIVT events caused by proxy traffic.
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SIVT proxy traffic, % – Percentage of SIVT events from proxy traffic.
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Total SIVT bots – SIVT events generated by bots.
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SIVT bots, % – Percentage of SIVT events from bots.
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Total SIVT inventory spoofing – SIVT events from misrepresented inventory, e.g. serving on an incorrect property or obfuscating content to commit fraud.
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SIVT inventory spoofing, % – Percentage of SIVT events due to inventory spoofing.
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Total SIVT falsified or manipulated – SIVT events involving falsified or manipulated data.
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SIVT falsified or manipulated, % – Percentage of SIVT events involving falsification or manipulation.
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Total SIVT incentivized malware – SIVT events tied to incentivized malware behavior.
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SIVT incentivized malware, % – Percentage of SIVT events from incentivized malware.
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Total SIVT obstructed ads – SIVT events where ads were intentionally obscured.
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SIVT obstructed ads, % – Percentage of SIVT events due to obstructed ads.
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Total SIVT undisclosed detection – SIVT events flagged through undisclosed detection techniques.
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SIVT undisclosed detection, % – Percentage of SIVT events from undisclosed detection.
Common IVT Causes
- Virtual machines simulating real devices.
- Automation tools (e.g., Selenium, Headless Chrome, Puppeteer) impersonating users.
- Suspicious signals indicating a fake device or manipulated user environment.
- Automated traffic that falsifies user and device information.
By following these steps, you can effectively enable and manage IVT scoring to protect your campaigns from fraudulent traffic.