DoubleVerify Takes Down Large-Scale Audio Ad Impression Fraud Scheme

Retro radio and headphones on table against brick wall
Tom Fogden
By Tom Fogden



DoubleVerify has said that it had discovered and thwarted “BeatSting” the first large-scale ad impression fraud scheme to target audio inventory.

The company first spotted the BeatSting audio ad fraud in 2019 and, since then, it estimates that some $20 million has been siphoned from advertisers.

According to DoubleVerify, BeatSting is part of a larger family of server-side ad insertion (SSAI) fraud schemes that emerged in 2019 and initially targeted connected TV (CTV) inventory. Fraudsters were spoofing residential IP addresses and audio apps while setting up fake SSAI servers to falsify audio ad requests to make the inventory attractive to advertisers.

When ad advertiser bid on the fake audio inventory and won, their ad dollars were wasted on a fraudulent opportunity and money was prevented from going to legitimate audio channels.

“Fraud always follows the money, and increasingly that money is flowing to digital audio, a rapidly emerging channel where digital advertising standards are still evolving,” said, Mark Zagorski, DoubleVerify’s CEO.

“CTV continues to experience this phenomenon and, increasingly, audio is quietly becoming a new channel of interest and attack.”

In the first half of last year, the DoubleVerify Fraud Lab reportedly saw a dramatic increase in ad fraud targeting audio channels.

“Whilst this is the first time a fraud scheme has generated fake audio traffic at scale, we can only expect fraudsters to increase their activity across this channel as user adoption grows,” explained Imran Masood, country manager AUNZ at DoubleVerify.

“In Australia, we have observed a steady increase in the growth of digital audio listeners, as well as an increasing media investment in digital audio according to the IAB Australia ‘Audio Advertising of the Nation 2022’ report. It is imperative advertisers work with providers who can offer comprehensive protection to their ad investment.”




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