What is Invalid Traffic (IVT)?
TL;DR
An umbrella term for ad traffic generated by bots or fraudulent means rather than deliberate human viewing.
Invalid Traffic (IVT): Definition & Explanation
Invalid traffic (IVT) is an umbrella term for ad traffic generated by bots or fraudulent means rather than deliberate human viewing. It splits into 'general invalid traffic (GIVT)' from data-center bots and crawlers, and 'sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT)' from advanced bots and spoofing that mimic humans. IVT inflates ad impressions and clicks, wasting ad spend and distorting effectiveness measurement. AI analyzes device fingerprints, behavioral patterns, and traffic traits to filter out IVT, with machine learning especially effective at discriminating hard-to-detect SIVT. DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS) measure and certify IVT rates as third parties, while HUMAN Security, CHEQ, and DataDome handle the actual blocking. Advertisers monitor IVT rate as a key KPI and act on both pre-bid (before delivery) and post-delivery (measurement). Because mistakenly judging legitimate users as IVT causes lost opportunity, threshold tuning and monitoring are essential.