Google and The Trade Desk appeared to block a supply-side platform over user ID mismatch issue

A new report from Adalytics found that supply-side platform Colossus provided The Trade Desk with mismatched user IDs in numerous trades, raising questions about how well verification vendors are doing at preventing issues that ultimately leave advertisers footing the bill. The mismatch problem, according to Adalytics, appears to meet the criteria of “cookie stuffing,” a form of ad fraud or “sophisticated invalid traffic” (SIVT) in standards set by the Media Rating Council. Adalytics observed trades involving 16 other SSPs that had no similar ID mismatch issues, though the report does not conclude how the mismatches happened or why. The Trade Desk (TTD) said it discovered the problem more than a year ago and blocked Colossus from trading unless clients specifically opt in. Separate from the Adalytics report, Google also appeared to block Colossus from its trading platforms last year before later restoring access due to similar issues, according to a person familiar with the situation. Colossus’ parent company, Direct Digital Holdings, denied any wrongdoing and attributed any issues to problems addressed long ago and noted it worked with TTD through an intermediary company rather than directly. Direct Digital Holdings also denied being cut off by Google. Also read: Inside Google and The Trade Desk’s post-cookie battle Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Adalytics collected the data for its report through visits by volunteers using the Google Chrome browser, which allows tracking IDs or cookies, collecting source code from the ads they were served (Google is in the process of turning off cookies, though its plans have been continuously delayed). The report notes that the ID mismatch could allow Colossus to reap far bigger bids based on more attractive user IDs of more value to advertisers than the Trade Desk IDs would deliver. In some cases, according to the report, multiple IDs were assigned to the same user by Colossus during the same site visit, none of them matching The Trade Desk IDs. But Adalytics CEO Krzysztof Franaszek declined to say whether bids from Colossus trades routinely came in higher than those of other SSPs whose declared IDs matched those of TTD. The report also said it could not glean intent or how the mismatches occurred. Executives of Direct Digital Holdings, the publicly traded parent of Colossus, strongly disputed the report, which they described as flawed and inaccurate. Any ID mismatches that occurred were a result of Colossus not having a direct connection to The Trade Desk like other SSPs cited in the report have, according to statements from the company, which also said its own testing did not show the same mismatch issues occuring. Even so, TTD largely blocked Colossus from trading last year after discovering problems. “The Trade Desk Marketplace Quality team has been aware of issues with the SSP mentioned in the Adalytics report for more than a year,” the company said in a statement. “At that time, our team took action to block this SSP across our platform. The only exception has come if an advertiser makes a specific request to knowingly transact through this SSP.” Also read: How Google’s post-cookie delay affects the ad industry Procter & Gamble Co. is one advertiser that has opted to continue trading via Colossus despite this, according to people familiar with the matter. P&G declined to comment. Google ID mismatch issues A publisher executive familiar with Colossus, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of a relationship with the company, said the publisher was able to independently reproduce the Adalytics findings of ID mismatches between the SSP and The Trade Desk in its own testing. Google also appeared to block Colossus from its trading platforms last year before later restoring access. Once Colossus resumed trading through Google exchanges, it’s been at a lower volume than before, the executive said, attributing the pattern to Google having discovered a similar ID mismatch problem with Colossus that later was fixed. Another person familiar with the matter said Google issued credits to affected advertisers after identifying ID-matching issues involving Colossus. Google declined to comment on Colossus, but a spokesman in a statement said: “Google has strict policies and robust enforcement systems to protect advertisers, publishers and people against invalid traffic. Late last year, our teams identified sources of invalid traffic that do not adhere to our guidance around how signals are shared in bid requests and took prompt action.” Verification questions TTD declined to say whether Human Security, which it works with for verification and ad fraud prevention, alerted the company to the problem. But a person familiar with the matter said the problem was identified by TTD’s internal team, then brought to Human’s attention, rather than the other way around. Human and Oracle Moat, which is a verification vendor used by Colossus, either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment. Both are accredited by the Media Rating Council for SIVT detection. Some found fault in verification vendors not finding and reporting the ID mismatch issue. “The impact of this single incident is not what the industry needs to pay attention to,” said Jay Friedman, CEO of the Goodway Group ad agency. “It’s whether or not the industry has the mechanisms set up to prevent or at least catch this. We have the systems that are supposed to catch this. They appear not to be working.” This and some prior issues Adalytics has found recently “are clearly part of MRC accreditations, where vendors are required to catch this in order to be verified,” Friedman said. A spokesman for the MRC said the group, prior to seeing the full Adalytics report, did not believe what was reported constituted cookie stuffing or SIVT. Colossus response In an interview, Direct Digital Holdings CEO Mark Walker said an initial draft of the Adalytics report didn’t note that other SSPs cited had direct connections to The Trade Desk, while Colossus works through an intermediary, BidSwitch, a unit of Criteo. He denied that Colossus had been cut off by Google. Colossus works with verification companies that include FouAnalytics, Human Security and Oracle Moat, said DDH Chief Technology Officer Anu Pillai. “We have any technology that we can utilize to ensure that we are being transparent and have clean supply,” Pillai said. “So it just beats us that they would think we’re doing something nefarious.” A statement from DDH read: “Because Colossus SSP is not directly connected to The Trade Desk, but rather through a publicly traded intermediary, Colossus SSP does not add or pass any Trade Desk user IDs in the bid request in accordance with Open RTB protocols and The Trade Desk requirements. As we have in the past, we will continue to work with The Trade Desk to resolve any concerns that they may have.” Later, a DDH spokeswoman forwarded screenshots of communications said to be from The Trade Desk indicating the ID issue had been dealt with in 2022, but that Colossus was blocked from the company’s open exchange starting last year because it did not participate in the DSP's first-price auction format, which she said Colossus was unable to do because it was working indirectly with TTD through BidSwitch. In a statement, DDH said, “For all intents and purposes, Bidswitch is the buyer for Colossus SSP. Colossus has no control over whether the bid request sent to Bidswitch by Colossus makes it to The Trade Desk.” Media measurement blog Tracking TV, social and digital updates Click here Though most of the other SSPs whose Trade Desk transactions Adalytics observed had direct connections to the DSP, Adalytics found data from trades another DSP that connects with TTD via BidSwitch—TrustX—showed no similar user identity mismatches with TTD. Criteo, which owns BidSwitch, in a statement said the company was not at fault regarding any issues with identity mismatches. “BidSwitch operates as a neutral ‘passthrough’ platform, sending traffic from SSPs to DSPs without manipulating the content of bid requests from SSPs or bid responses from DSPs," according to the statement. DDH in a statement said its testing differed from Adalytics’ finding and that it populates an ID field different from the Trade Desk ID (TDID) field.

Google and The Trade Desk appeared to block a supply-side platform over user ID mismatch issue

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