the due diligence desk

Before you buy from a DSP: the fraud questions

DSPs tell clients fraud runs 1 to 3 percent and is filtered out before the buy, but that figure is their own self-reported catch rate. Independent post-click scans of DSP traffic keep finding about half bots, malware or human fraud. A buyer should know what the filter can see, who checks it, and what the platform will credit back.

1. What share of our impressions did your pre-bid filter remove last quarter, and does that number cover only general invalid traffic or sophisticated invalid traffic too?

   The 1 to 3 percent figure DSPs quote is their own self-reported GIVT catch rate, not a verified measurement.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: DSPs Tell Clients Fraud Runs 1 to 3 Percent. Anura's Scans Keep Finding Half.
2. Will you accept post-click or landing-page scans from an independent vendor as grounds for make-goods or credits?

   Anura's post-click scans of DSP traffic keep finding roughly 50 percent bots, malware or human fraud, with single scans from about 40 percent to more than 90.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: DSPs Tell Clients Fraud Runs 1 to 3 Percent. Anura's Scans Keep Finding Half.
3. How much time does your filter get per bid decision, and which signals can it check in that window?

   Pre-bid filters get about 20 milliseconds per decision, while Anura checks more than 800 data points at the landing page.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: DSPs Tell Clients Fraud Runs 1 to 3 Percent. Anura's Scans Keep Finding Half.
4. Has the MRC audited your filtration, and what rates did the audit report by metric, property, locale and filter type?

   The MRC says it often sees filtration rates in audits well above 1 percent, varying by metric, property, locale and filter type.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: DSPs Tell Clients Fraud Runs 1 to 3 Percent. Anura's Scans Keep Finding Half.
5. What has changed in your detection since AI made bots cheaper to build, and how has the invalid traffic you catch grown this year?

   Anura put growth in the fraud it catches at more than 50 percent over six months, driven by AI.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: DSPs Tell Clients Fraud Runs 1 to 3 Percent. Anura's Scans Keep Finding Half.
6. Do you bid on traffic from crawlers on the IAB Spiders and Bots list, and do the identity signals you buy on screen them out?

   A peer-reviewed study found 17 of 18 major ID vendors gave identities to a crawler that has been on the IAB list since 2013.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: LiveIntent Says Its Graph Is "Authenticated Daily." It Gave a Bot an ID.
7. Which DSPs and resellers sit in your supply chain, and how do you check a partner's history when it changes name or owner?

   Google buyer records show one ad provider ID passing from MarketDSP to Discover-Tech in 2020 with the same domains, and Citizen Lab says Discover-Tech ads later delivered Candiru spyware.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: GumGum Says It Left Discover-Tech's Family Tree a Decade Ago. It Didn't Say Which Branch.
8. What do we pay in platform and reseller fees, line by line, before any money reaches a publisher?

   One 15-person agency that cleared The Trade Desk's $100,000 monthly bar still pays 17 percent to TTD plus 12 percent to reseller Mogl.

   Prompted by ADOTAT: Wire & File: Publicis Bought LiveRamp's Neutrality. Apple Called It Tracking. The Trade Desk Charged the Toll.

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