Ad fraud surged by 69% on connected TV globally in 2022, more than the 62% growth in viewership, according to DoubleVerify, as the number of streaming fraud schemes tracked by the ad tech firm has tripled since 2020.

“Fraud really tends to follow the dollars,” said Collette Spagnolo, VP of marketing analytics at DV.

And as advertiser dollars increasingly flow into CTV, particularly free ad-supported TV (FAST), not only are the opportunities for fraud increasing, but so is the payoff. CPMs even for lower-quality CTV inventory on open exchanges often run four times as high as on the open web, and even fraudsters want to maximize bang for the buck.

Unprotected campaigns had a fraud rate of 11.2% vs. 0.6% for those protected by DV sophisticated invalid traffic detection, according to the company’s Global Insights 2023 report. Schemes are evolving constantly, Spagnolo said, but she expressed confidence in DV’s capability to keep up with them.

Most of the trade in ad inventory for premium streaming networks happens in private marketplaces where fraud is less likely. Fraud is more likely to occur within inventory bought on open exchanges and lower-end FAST apps, Spagnolo said.

“But everyone is vulnerable,” she said. “We don’t have any space that has absolutely no fraud, and that’s not just within CTV but across the whole digital ecosystem.”

Overall, ad fraud, or SIVT violation rates, declined from 1.5% to 1.1% of all digital ad inventory, according to the DV report. Video and display viewability rates also reached all-time highs of 74% and 69% respectively.

Still, there’s good news in the report to help justify the relatively lofty prices of CTV inventory, which had a 96% video completion rate globally last year, compared to 67% on all other devices and only 59% on the mobile web.

Such numbers gave ample reason for YouTube to tout the growing number of its ads that display on big screens at its Brandcast upfront presentation on Wednesday. Based on its own measurement, the Google-owned video platform reported 70% of impressions for its premium YouTube Select inventory landing on TV screens as of December.