Fighting botnets in a cross-platform world
As part of Comscore’s commitment to bringing quality measurement to the cross-platform world, we are working hard to help clients and the industry bridge the gaps that divide digital and TV. One such gap lies in digital ad verification – knowing that issues of viewability and fraud, which are foreign to the TV landscape, can at times plague digital advertisers. As we strive to shape a future where ad measurement is comparable across platforms, it is important that we stay ahead of the issues that occur in digital, but it is equally important to properly contextualize these issues as we evaluate them. This week’s news of the Methbot scheme is a prime example of a digital threat that must be taken seriously, but must also come with proper background. This is what compelled me to write this post.
When news about Methbot broke this week, it understandably sent waves of concern and confusion through the industry. However, while headlines suggest this is a major new phenomenon that has gone unnoticed by third-party measurement providers, that is not the case. To help contextualize this news, I offer three points to keep in mind when thinking about Methbot:
At the end of the day, the attention that Methbot has generated reinforces that SIVT filtration is critical in digital audience and campaign measurement – and equally important as the industry moves toward making cross-platform measurement the new standard. As media buyers and sellers evaluate critical KPIs such as reach, UVs, GRPs and TRPs, these measures must reflect the true impact on human consumers before TV and digital can speak the same language. Luckily, with advanced techniques in measuring and combatting SIVT, we are keeping ahead of the new schemes that emerge and reporting clean metrics today – not only for digital, but for audiences across platforms.