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What is Invalid Traffic (IVT)?

Also known as: GIVT, SIVT, Pre-bid IVT filtering

Quick definition

Invalid traffic is any ad impression or click that does not come from a real, interested human, ranging from known data-center crawlers (GIVT) to sophisticated fraud such as bot farms, app spoofing and ad stacking (SIVT).

Key points

Pre-bid
Filters suspicious requests before bidding, saving spend and compute.
Post-bid
Measures after the impression is served, used for reporting and clawbacks.
Standards
MRC guidelines and TAG certification define detection expectations.

Benefits

  • Pre-bid filtering protects budgets in real time

Trade-offs

  • False positives remove legitimate supply
  • Disagreement between vendors drives settlement disputes

FAQ

Why do IVT rates affect publisher payouts?

Buyers and SSPs deduct impressions flagged as invalid, which is a major cause of revenue deductions between partners.

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Official sources

Last reviewed 2026-10-27. Explanations are written by AdTech Radar; consult the official specification for implementation.