DoubleVerify and Roku have uncovered a CTV ad fraud scheme that has taken fraudsters’ traditional domain spoofing tactic to a new level. Discovered late last summer and still active, the scheme — dubbed “CycloneBot” — may be costing advertisers as much as $7.5 million per month in fake impressions.

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“Ad fraud has not historically been a major concern in the CTV space. For most of our clients, CTV inventory is primarily purchased direct or via PG/PMP, leading to a more curated, quality supply of inventory, rather than on the open web where fraud would be more prevalent. That said, third-party ad verification is now more widely accepted across CTV partners, enabling reporting of fraud/invalid traffic and therefore allowing advertisers to optimize towards the most brand safe, fraud-free environments,” Marcy Greenberger, chief investment officer at UM Worldwide, said in an email.

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