Every advertiser assumes that when they buy a CTV impression, it is appearing on a television screen during a show. Unfortunately, Peer39 data reveals a different reality: without proper controls, an average of 6.8% of CTV impressions run on what we call Fake CTV, arising from 25.2% of bid requests for that kind of "content."
Fake CTV includes non-streaming environments that have managed to label themselves as CTV in the bidstream. This includes ad-supported screensavers, wallpapers, white noise generators, and even mobile apps posing as television devices. These environments are the definition of wasted spend. A viewer isn't "watching" a screensaver; they have likely left the room or turned off the screen while the device continues to fire ad requests.
The rise of Fake CTV is a symptom of a larger transparency gap. Because the CTV market scaled so rapidly, the signal layer struggled to keep up. Bad actors capitalized on this by "spoofing" premium inventory—misrepresenting low-quality traffic as top-tier programming. Because traditional Bundle IDs are static and easily copied, many DSPs have no way of knowing that a bid request for a "hit drama" is actually coming from a static photo widget.
Peer39 solves this through the Safe from Fake Content category. By using dynamic Peer39 IDs and independent verification, we filter out these non-streaming environments before the bid is even placed.
For publishers of real content, this is equally vital. Fake CTV siphons off billions of dollars that should be going to legitimate creators. By using an environmental truth layer, advertisers ensure that their dollars are supporting professional creators and reaching actual humans, not just firing into the void of an empty living room.