Enabling IVT Scoring Service (Protected Media)
- Jeremy Zimmerman
Analytics
To activate IVT (Invalid Traffic) scoring for your entities, follow these steps:
1. Enabling the Scoring Service
Navigate to Tools.
Select Scoring Services.
Click the plus (+) icon next to Protected Media (Post-bid).
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 entities.
Per-Entity Cap:
Daily limit: Maximum impressions scored per entity per day.
Hourly limit: Maximum impressions scored per entity per hour.
Aa 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.
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 Metrics & Definitions
Category | Description |
|---|---|
Bot/Virus | Automated programs that mimic human traffic to generate fraudulent impressions. |
Hostile Tools | Scripts and bots designed to evade security measures and disguise ad interactions. |
Tunneled Traffic | Traffic masked via proxies, VPNs, or emulated devices to hide real geolocation. |
Non-Malicious Bots | Includes click farms and declared crawlers (e.g., Google’s search bot). |
View Fraud | Ads placed in non-viewable areas (e.g., hidden in iFrames). |
Publisher Fraud | Ads served on unauthorized websites or apps. |
Reputation | Tracks the likelihood of an entity (publisher, website, user ID) engaging in fraud. |
Automated & Emulated Activity | Fake traffic generated by bots, viruses, and automation tools. |
Known Crawlers | Identified bots from legitimate sources (e.g., Google, Meta). Not flagged as IVT. |
GIVT (General Invalid Traffic) | Easily detected invalid traffic filtered by standard parameters. |
SIVT (Sophisticated Invalid Traffic) | Harder-to-detect fraud requiring advanced analysis and intervention. |
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.