The 2021 US Fraud Benchmark Study showed that IVT in TAG Certified Channels fell to a record-low 0.86% this year, a fourth straight year of improvement and a nearly 50% drop from the rate measured in the study in 2018. TAG Certified Channels are those in which a campaign runs through multiple companies that have achieved the TAG Certified Against Fraud Seal.

“A sub-1% fraud rate has been our industry’s four-minute mile, a psychological and operational barrier that has seemed nearly impossible to break,” said Mike Zaneis, CEO of TAG. “Unlike an individual record in sports, however, achieving that milestone in advertising has required close collaboration across the supply chain. When multiple participants in every ad transaction set the same high and consistent standards, there are few cracks left for criminals to exploit, and ad fraud can be reduced to low and sustainable levels.”

The study, conducted by The 614 Group, also involved interviews with executives at agency holding companies and others who helped put those results in context, with many ad buyers expressing comfort with a sustained fraud rate around the 1% level or lower. In the words of one agency executive, “We don’t have clients asking about fraud anymore. They see the 1% number over and over again, and they’re aware of all the levers we’re pulling on their behalf.”

This report uses the methodology established by The 614 Group in 2017 for the first US benchmark study and used in all TAG Fraud Benchmark studies undertaken around the globe from that point forward. 

Download the full "TAG Fraud Benchmark: US 2021" report

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