---
title: "Pixalate Week in Review: August 17 - 21, 2020"
description: Pixalate reviews this week's news in the programmatic ad fraud space. Find the most critical ad tech and privacy news from 17-21 August 2020.
image: https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/streaming-tv-ott-ctv-family-living-room.png
---

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 2 min read

# Pixalate Week in Review: August 17 - 21, 2020

 Written by [Pixalate](https://www.pixalate.com/blog/author/pixalate)

 Aug 21, 2020 2:00:00 PM

This week's review of ad fraud and quality in the digital advertising space.

### **1: The ad industry needs to step up in the fight against CTV ad fraud**

### ![streaming-tv-ott-ctv-family-living-room](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/streaming-tv-ott-ctv-family-living-room.png?width=600&name=streaming-tv-ott-ctv-family-living-room.png)

"Ad spending on connected TV (CTV) has accelerated dramatically as people spend more time at home," wrote Ivan Markman, Chief Business Officer of Verizon Media in this [AdExchanger](https://www.adexchanger.com/tv-and-video/139801/) op-ed. "CTV traffic is lucrative for publishers, but can also attract fraud."

The piece highlights several OTT/CTV ad fraud schemes uncovered this year — including [DiCaprio](https://www.pixalate.com/dicaprio-ott-ctv-ad-fraud-scheme-grindr-mobile-app) and [Monarch](https://www.pixalate.com/monarch-ott-ctv-ad-fraud-scheme). "While fraudsters will always follow the money, the industry needs to combat a handful of issues in the rapidly expanding CTV category," the piece adds.

 

### 2. How real-time bidding can create personal data protection problems

### ![privacy-data-people](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/privacy-data-people.png?width=600&name=privacy-data-people.png)

In this podcast, [eMarketer](https://content-na1.emarketer.com/ad-platform-trouble-with-real-time-bidding-personal-data-protection) speaks with Johnny Ryan, senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the Open Markets Institute, about "why real-time bidding as it's currently executed has personal data protection problems."

### 3. More mobile apps are testing in-app bidding

![array-of-mobile-apps](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/array-of-mobile-apps.jpg?width=600&name=array-of-mobile-apps.jpg)

In this piece, [AdExchanger](https://www.adexchanger.com/mobile/in-app-bidding-gathers-steam-but-adoption-looks-nothing-like-header-bidding-on-the-web/) notes that more mobile app publishers are testing in-app bidding. "But the path to wider adoption of in-app programmatic auctions will be different than on the web, in part because of the long-established dynamics between app publishers and their partners, the emergence of different standards in apps vs. web and the fact that mobile technology is very different from web technology," wrote AdExchanger.

### 4. Free, ad-supported steaming TV is 'still in the wild west' as battles heat up

![amazon-fire-stick](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/amazon-fire-stick.png?width=600&name=amazon-fire-stick.png)

[Digiday](https://digiday.com/future-of-tv/were-still-in-the-wild-west-free-ad-supported-streaming-tv-war-heats-up-with-amazon-pluto-tv-updates/) writes that the "free, ad-supported streaming TV wars" are heating up with Amazon and Pluto TV making recent updates. "That burgeoning battleground 'looks like what we saw in the early ’90s with the beginning of the cable ecosystem,'" an unnamed media executive said to Digiday.

### **5. US advertising dips 14%; 'most moderate' drop since March**

### ![down-trend](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/down-trend.png?width=600&name=down-trend.png)

"The erosion of U.S. ad spending continues to moderate, falling at its lowest rate of decline in July since the economic effects of the pandemic began manifesting earlier this year," wrote [MediaPost](https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/354998/us-advertising-falls-14-in-july-most-moderate.html). U.S. ad volume declined 13.9% vs. July 2019, per MediaPost, citing its U.S. Ad Market Tracker, "a collaboration of MediaPost and Standard Media Index."

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# Disclaimer

 Disclaimer: The content of this page reflects Pixalate’s opinions with respect to the factors that Pixalate believes can be useful to the digital media industry. Any proprietary data shared is grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating. Any references to outside sources should not be construed as endorsements. Pixalate’s opinions are just that - opinion, not facts or guarantees.

 Per the MRC, “'Fraud' is not intended to represent fraud as defined in various laws, statutes and ordinances or as conventionally used in U.S. Court or other legal proceedings, but rather a custom definition strictly for advertising measurement purposes. Also per the MRC, “‘Invalid Traffic’ is defined generally as traffic that does not meet certain ad serving quality or completeness criteria, or otherwise does not represent legitimate ad traffic that should be included in measurement counts. Among the reasons why ad traffic may be deemed invalid is it is a result of non-human traffic (spiders, bots, etc.), or activity designed to produce fraudulent traffic.”

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