When GIVT Is Valid – 2025
Invalid Traffic (IVT) remains one of the most widely misunderstood terms in digital advertising. Too often, “IVT” is shorthand for fraud, waste, or nefarious activity. In reality, the Media Rating Council (MRC) definition is broader, distinguishing between types of IVT and acknowledging that some of it is expected, even beneficial.
The General Framework
The MRC divides IVT into two categories:
General Invalid Traffic (GIVT) refers to traffic from known non-human sources that can be readily identified through routine means, making it benign and often beneficial. Useful tools include:
- Malware scanners
- Crawlers
- Bots used to detect unsafe browsers
- Self-identifying bots
- Routine maintenance bots
Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT) is more difficult to detect and is undesirable.
Examples include:
- Automated browsing from a device (typically hijacked or infected)
- Incentivized human invalid activity (e.g., paying real people to click on ads)
- Manipulated activities like mobile redirects or tricking users to click (e.g., fake close window buttons) to open new windows
- Falsified measurement events like visit, impression, viewability, click, location, consent strings, etc.
This framework, established many years ago and updated again in 2024, remains the global standard. Accredited measurement vendors must filter GIVT out of billable metrics, while SIVT requires more advanced detection and investigation. TMT works with our Partners to ensure that they can reliably identify the traffic we generate, ensuring they are always in full compliance.
- Privacy and Identity Shifts: With the deprecation of cookies and the emergence of mobile privacy frameworks, measurement often encounters “impairments” that complicate IVT filtering. MRC’s 2024 guidance addresses how vendors should disclose and manage these gaps.
- New Channels, New Rules: Retail media, connected TV (CTV), and in-app ecosystems have all expanded dramatically. Each has channel-specific IVT guidance, but the GIVT/SIVT logic still applies.
- Expanded Bot Classes: Beyond traditional crawlers, vendors must now filter emerging automated agents, including AI scrapers and synthetic browser traffic, as GIVT
Why This Matters for Buyers and Sellers
Treating all IVT as equal is misleading.
Buyers should expect accredited vendors to filter GIVT, disclose impairments, and actively work to detect SIVT.
Buyers and sellers both should understand that some IVT is both valid and necessary to combat malvertising, protect, and earn the trust of end-users; therefore, properly classified GIVT is appropriate and not considered fraudulent.
Why “Invalid” Doesn’t Always Mean “Bad”
The word invalid often triggers alarm, but some IVT plays a constructive role in the ecosystem. Consider:
- Search crawlers are, by definition, “invalid” ad traffic yet essential for discoverability and SEO.
- Brand safety and verification vendors deploy their own crawlers to scan placements, ensuring ads don’t appear next to harmful content.
- Emerging automated tools are now classified as GIVT. These aren’t fraud, but they also don’t represent monetizable human impressions.
This is why TMT works diligently to collaborate with and educate our partners and their clients on the latest technology and industry standards, making the online world a safer place while not complicating measurement in the process.
