Pixalate FAQ
About Pixalate
- What is Pixalate's company heritage and foundation?
- Pixalate entered the market in the time when inventory quality and verification was limited to whether an ad was viewable. Our position has remained steadfast that the quality of a given ad transaction needs to be assessed across multiple data insights and attributes, not solely on the basis of whether it is viewable. If an ad is viewable but it is generated through the actions of a non-human (bot script, hijacked device, etc.), it is not quality.
- In November 2014, Pixalate first received MRC Accreditation for viewability measurement, promptly setting our sights on the evaluation of our fraud detection solutions. Pixalate's MRC Accreditation was expanded upon in July 2017 to include the detection and filtration of sophisticated invalid traffic ("SIVT") across desktop and mobile web environments. These achievements were soon eclipsed by the Pixalate's achievement of the industry's first MRC Accreditation for SIVT detection and filtration across connected-tv (CTV) environments. This was first attained by Pixalate in November 2018 and also included SIVT detection and filtration across mobile application (mobile in-app) environments. Effective November 2018, Pixalate's MRC Accreditation included SIVT detection and filtration across all relevant supply channels (desktop, mobile web, mobile app, CTV). Shortly thereafter, Pixalate expanded upon existing measurement and invalid traffic ("IVT") detection methodologies to bridge an industry gap in CTV ad content validation, including use of server-side-ad-insertion ("SSAI") integrations. In April 2020, Pixalate solidified this by attaining MRC Accreditation across 12 unique SSAI measurement metrics.
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- Pixalate ventured to stay ahead of fraudsters and competitors alike by focusing on emerging platforms and the ability to work cross-device. Underneath the hood, we are a data company, and use this post-bid/campaign-level detection data to inform buying decisions. We look at this similar to a "fraud detection" company in the credit card/payments space, combining the four sciences of cyber security, data analysis, risk management, and compliance. Many of the same cybercriminals stealing money in the credit card/bitcoin space are operating in the unregulated advertising space. Throughout our existence, we have adapted as things become more of a priority. We have remained nimble enough and own enough of our company to make those decisions and act on them without months of approval.
- Do you offer a trial period?
- Yes, please contact us for options.
- Where is your data stored?
- Our data is stored in the cloud with SOC-2 compliant third parties.
- Who are your primary customers?
- We work with customers across the ecosystem (including Agencies, DSPs, SSPs, Publishers, etc.).
- Who are your current brand clients?
- While many of our brand clients have elected to externally disclose our collaboration to date, our brand clients require written approval and prospect name to disclose.
- Who are your current agency partners?
- While many of our agency partners have elected to externally disclose our collaboration to date, our agency partners require written approval and prospect name to disclose.
- Who are your current platform partners?
- These platforms have been approved for marketing and public sharing of partnership: OpenX, Magnite, Pubmatic, NextRoll, and BasisTechnologies among others.
About Our Products
- What makes Pixalate different from other fraud solutions or competitors?
- Maintains MRC Accreditation across 20+ metric measurement areas, including SIVT detection and filtration across desktop, mobile web, mobile in-app, and CTV.
- Maintains MRC Accreditation across 45+ unique, individual measurement metrics.
- First company to receive MRC accreditation for CTV SIVT detection and filtration.
- Only company offering omni-channel fraud protection at each stage of the digital supply chain as e have built a complete system that works in parallel throughout planning, pre-bid, and post-bid supply chains.
- State of the art reporting and real-time pre-bid blocking APIs.
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- Non-SDK viewability detection solution in mobile app.
- SIVT solutions across all current platforms (CTV, Mobile Web, Desktop Web, In-App)
- Scaled precision: Our different approach works outside of a campaign-only view; we use this scale to analyze more data to be more accurate for our clients.
- Dedicated account support - customer success, ad ops, data science all working to ensure each client’s efforts are working to their particular goals.
- Thought leadership that discovers threats, produces industry benchmarks, and leading fraud intelligence.
- Only company that produces Seller Trust Indices, ranking of sellers based on a unique mix of quality criteria.
- Support and direct reporting across IPv6 internet traffic, which no other company does.
- Supply chain ratings (updated monthly) for millions of publishers (including websites, apps and sellers).
- Cost: We do not charge on a CPM basis (other than for event overages); products built for platforms.
- Transparency: Pixalate offers granular reporting across 43+ IVT types with actionable solutions to address such traffic.
- Service options: We have varying levels of service to accommodate all client types, including dedicated resources.
- Consistency between data detected on the buy-side vs. sell-side.
- We support integrations with all ad platforms and ad specifications (MRAID, VAST, VPAID, etc.).
- Can Pixalate block fraud on a user-level or only by site-level?
- Pixalate is able to address fraud or IVT/SIVT on a user-level and a site-level.
- Is there a search functionality within the product UIs?
- Yes. Pixalate Analytics and Media Ratings Terminal (MRT) platforms offer granular search functionality across a vast series of data points.
- Do you offer API support to export data?
- Can client data be siloed from other partners? Does that impact the performance/efficacy of the solution?
- The data can be siloed, but it will reduce the effectiveness and cost more. For pre-bid blocking, if you do not contribute any post-bid data to the data pool, you rely on everyone else's data.
- What is the effective costs difference for having data siloed, and why there is a cost difference?
- This will be determined based on subscriptions and volume amounts during the proposal process, but is 25% or more. We discount our cost dramatically because contributing data to a global dataset for all our clients makes everyone better (including you). If you do not contribute, then no one benefits and you will just be benefiting from everyone else's data, so there is no discount applied.
- Do you work within walled gardens such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and other publishers and platforms that disallow or limit measurable third-party verification activity?
- Pixalate does not currently perform direct measurement within these environments via post-bid integrations.
- Do you have an SDK?
- Yes, please visit the Analytics and Blocking sections to learn more about our Pixalate's SDK solution(s).
- How do you collect data for mobile?
- We collect mobile data through an MRAID compatible tag or 1x1 pixel.
- How do you collect data for native?
- We collect native data through a 1x1 pixel.
- How do you collect data for e-mail?
- We collect email data through a 1x1 pixel.
- Do you support ad blocking for brand safety?
- Yes, Pixalate blocks across 6 current sources: IPs, Device IDs, Domains, Apps, User agents, and Data Centers. In addition to blocking IVT, we can block for brand safety and viewability. Further, our Media Ratings Terminal offers brand safety ratings across over 400,000 apps and millions of domains for building ideal, scaled whitelists and blocklists.
- Does your platform have unique accounts for each user?
- Where are Pixalate's data-centers located?
- We are currently located in East Coast and West Coast of the United States of America. We are, however, able to bring up our services in any AWS Region Data Centers.
- What is the latency of Pixalate's Fraud API?
- Internal latency of Pixalate system is less than 2 milliseconds. External latency depends on client location. Pixalate has data-centers on the East and West coasts to ensure minimal latency. Clusters at other locations can be spawned as needed.
- What is the format of Pixalate's Fraud API?
- How do Pixalate's tools and technology increase ad revenue?
- Pixalate's Fraud Management System detects ad quality issues and prevents them to build a higher-quality media platform. All of these outcomes are recommended when clients work with us to monitor any issues, precisely address them, and then intelligently build their supply to avoid higher-risk properties. With a complete view across channels and a full-system network of solutions, clients are able to solve for risk management and improve campaign success.
- Do you support https secure connections?
- What is your data retention policy?
- Pixalate maintains a formal data retention policy which is compliant with relevant industry guidance (MRC Minimum Guidelines) and assessed on an annual basis as part of Pixalate's MRC Accreditation audit reviews.
Accreditation
- Are you TAG Certified Against Fraud for general invalid traffic (GIVT)?
- Yes, in addition to the MRC Accreditation(s) retained by Pixalate, we are an active participant in the Trustworthy Accountability Group ("TAG") Anti-Fraud Working Group ("AFWG") and maintain the Certified Against Fraud ("CAF") seal.
- Are you TAG Certified Against Fraud for sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT)?
Customer Support
- What are your standard SLAs?
- Standard requests not requiring Data Science receive a response with resolution timeline in 24-48 hours. Data Science review requires quoted time based on the complexity of the request and needed hours, and only available in our higher-tiered support package.
- What is your process if we believe the result of a traffic scan (e.g. false positive) is incorrect?
- We require post-bid integration to troubleshoot this. We use global data, so while it may look like a false-positive on your inventory, in our inventory pool it may still be flagged. You would submit a request to your Customer Success lead including as much information as possible (IP, Device ID, App, Timestamp, etc.) so we can pinpoint in your analytics. You will provide your reasoning for this concern and your Customer Success lead will address, or the Data Science team will review your request and provide reasoning for the flag. Excessive requests will come out of support hours.
- Does your platform have 24/7 support and availability?
- Pixalate's support-levels is determined by our SLA.
- Does Pixalate have a method for onboarding new users?
- Pixalate maintains formal client onboarding procedures which include initial onboarding/training, platform setup, integration, etc. has a procedure to onboard new users.
- Does Pixalate deliver continual training to users?
- Yes. We provide ongoing training to our clients and each client is assigned a client success manager.
- Does your platform have a method for certifying users on the platform?
- Yes. We offer logins for each user given permission to access the platform.
- What is the expected response time from support?
- Our support response time is determined in the SLA level, but often less than 24 hours.
- If we have any questions, who can we reach out to?
- Emails can be sent to help@pixalate.com if you do not have a dedicated Customer Success Representative.
Measurement
- What can cause an impression not to be measurable? How can you troubleshoot this issue?
- For purposes of impression measurement, Pixalate measures and records impressions, in a manner consistent with the 'Begin to Render' impression recording criterion. This recorded is facilitated via JavaScript for display ads and through the VAST framework for video creatives. For purposes of viewability measurement, Pixalate leverages JavaScript solution(s) across desktop and mobile web environments and MRAID solution(s) across mobile in-app. Variations in measurable impressions, on the basis of viewability decisioning, may be attributable to certain 'Begin to Render' measurement considerations as outlined in Pixalate's Customer Support portal or as a direct result of the measurement limitations outlined in Pixalate's Description of Methodology ("DOM").
- What could cause viewability to be reported differently between Pixalate and a third party?
- First, check if the third-party metrics being compared to performs measurement in a manner consistent with relevant MRC/IAB guidelines. Additionally, check the impressions measured, as they may have increased while viewable impression counts have remained the same.
- What are considered 'good' viewability benchmarks?
- What we commonly see is that overall viewability above 35% is good.
- What is Ad Exposure?
- The percentage that an ad is visible to the user (adExposureTime divided by adSampleTime).
- What is Ad Exposure Time?
- The time in milliseconds a viewed impression is exposed to a User.
- What is the difference between viewability and ad exposure?
- Here's a way to think about this: If you have 100 impressions and 50 of them were viewed by a user (as defined by viewability), you will have 50% viewability. Of those impressions that were viewable, ad exposure gives the percent of the time the user viewed the ad.
- What can cause an impression to be measured, but not viewable? How can you troubleshoot this issue?
- By the definition of viewability, we can measure that an impression happened, but it may be below the fold, then it is not considered viewable. Measurability does not necessarily mean that it is viewable. It could also be a case that they are using a 1x1 to measure impression, and viewability is not available when a 1x1 is used.
- How is Pixalate's viewability measurement different than the competition?
- Pixalate's media planning, IVT detection and brand safety management product suite provides numerous competitive advantages in terms of the rich data insights provided, the comprehensive nature of each product suite (with solutions extending from media planning and pre-bid blocking to post-bid intelligence), and the thorough and sophisticated nature of Pixalate's relevant measurement & IVT detection methodologies.
- Pixalate maintains MRC Accreditation across 20+ metric measurement areas, including SIVT detection and filtration across desktop, mobile web, mobile in-app, and CTV.
- Maintains MRC Accreditation across 45+ unique, individual measurement metrics.
- How long have you been providing in-app measurement support?
- Do you crawl or data scrape web pages?
- Yes . We have several general web crawlers which are not related to the 1x1 pixel we use for ad tracking.
- What is the complete list of the type of data that Pixalate collects? Is a cookie is dropped or accessed, and if so, for what purposes?
- Pixalate's 1x1 pixel is able to provide details such as IP Address, user agent, and cookie headers. These data points are analyzed by Pixalate's algorithms for outliers and abnormal behaviors, to help identify and flag IVT.
- Do you use any data from third party data providers?
- Yes, we use data such as User Agent information, device identification, etc.
Thought Leadership
- What are some of your recent contributions to the industry's understanding of ad fraud?
- Can ad fraud ever be "solved"?
- With proper investigation, participation and thought leaders, significant progress can be made. But all partners in the ecosystem must be involved, even if it may hurt their bottom line in the near term.
- What is the difference between malware and phishing?
- Phishing is when someone tries to trick you into sharing information, usually through a fake website. Malware refers to harmful or unwanted software that's installed on your computer without your knowledge.
