MAM
Guest column: Cybersecurity in the advertising sector
Today, the world is experiencing a digital revolution and digital media plays a pivotal role in it. Having the potential to change the way we live our lives, it is the next big thing to watch out for. Digital media is omnipresent and is flooding our lives by leveraging every channel possible. With modern technologies like IoT (Internet of Things), Big Data and Cloud computing penetrating our lives and making way for innovative business ideas, one can sense the global business scenario transform to adapt this digital era. However, with growing possibilities come growing threats. Cybersecurity is globally a major issue across all the digital platforms. It is important to understand the intricacies of cyber security, in order to avert the ongoing spate of digital frauds.
When “Advertising” went “Digital”…
Speaking of tech-based innovative business ideas, digital advertising rings a bell. It is one of the outcomes of this digital era. Digital advertising is the future of advertising. It is expected to overtake TV advertising this year. It is a smart technology that will only grow bigger and get smarter, by incorporating futuristic technologies. Programmatic advertising is the newest entrant in this field. It is the next generation technology which helps advertisers to target their desired customers, through the use of algorithms and dynamic tracking of users’ behavioral data. The entire process is automated and is completed withing the blink of an eye.
Don’t fall victim!
While wading through this digital world, however, one needs to be cautious. The lack of human involvement, creates certain vulnerabilities. It is prone to attacks by hackers. The system may get infested by viruses, malwares, spywares, ransomware, etc. These could wreck havoc on the system which stores our valuable data. In the world of digital advertising, online threats manifest in the form of click frauds, fake and bot-generated traffics, spamming, brandjacking, identity thefts, data thefts, etc. Such criminal activities pose a looming threat to the digital media sector. If the users end up clicking on malicious links, their system is exposed to great risks by hackers and malicious software.
Watch your clicks!
Advertisers were recently hit by two massive advertising frauds – Methbot and Hyphbot. Methbot is claimed to be the “Biggest Ad Fraud Ever”. A group of Russian criminals managed to game the system with the help of fake domain registrations. They tricked the ad-algorithms into buying their fake web space and serving ads on these fraud platforms. They then directed fake traffic at these ads from 5,70,000+ bots who viewed these ads. This drove their revenues to $5M per day by forging 300M video views, with the help of the CPC system they exploited.
Another such ad fraud operation was “Hyphbot”. It was a bot network that fabricated up to a 1.5 billion fake ad requests per day and generated around $5,00,000 a day. “Hyphbot” is said to have compromised around 5,00,000 machines. It is claimed to be four-times as big as the Methbot operation. Similar to Methbot, the Hyphbot perpetrators generated a slew of fake websites that were designed to mimic the behavior of authenticate human traffic. They consequently managed to trick the ad exchanges and ad networks that these were genuine and premium publishers.
Build your defense:
In this world of digitization, it is very important to be aware of the ways to prevent such attacks on oneself and be safe online. To deter frauds like the Methbot and the Hyphbot, publishers can adopt a simple “ads.txt” protocol. By implementing ads.txt, publishers can caution third-party media buyers – which includes even the automated buying platforms – by providing data about exactly which inventory sources legitimately represent them. Simply concatenating the script ‘/ads.txt’ after a genuine premium publisher’s URL will display the list of these third-party media parties.
Advertisers can use self- serve platforms which enable them to monitor their ad campaigns and its properties in real-time. All members of the supply chain will have to work together to weed out ad frauds and other cybersecurity issues. Hence, It is important that all advertisers (Brands & Agencies) be watchful any programmatic advertising platforms and SSPs before they are engaging with them in business.
Governments and major players are taking notice…
In the UK, the FBI and Metropolitan Police are taking keen interest in ad fraud cases. They are currently gathering intelligence on the technicalities of the “adtech” industry and sources say that summons in these frauds can be expected soon. Also, major advertisers have shown inclinations towards only those publishers and ad tech companies who have a strong commitment to prevent ad frauds on their sites.
The future of this highly-promising industry lies on the shoulders of these preventive measures and their success ratios. Ad fraud prevention is a vital area that needs a lot of urgent attention. However, this will play a major role in shaping the future of this digital world.
The author is the founder and CEO of Vertoz. The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.
MAM
Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement
Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted
MUMBAI: Nielsen is taking a fresh stab at one of television’s oldest blind spots: how many people are actually watching the same screen. The audience-measurement giant on February 4 unveiled a co-viewing pilot that uses wearable devices to better capture shared viewing, starting with America’s biggest broadcast stage.
The trial begins with Super Bowl LX on NBC on February 8, 2026, before extending to other high-profile live sports and entertainment events in the first half of the year. The goal is simple but commercially potent: count viewers more accurately, especially during live spectacles that pull families and friends to one screen.
The new approach leans on Nielsen’s proprietary wearable meters, wrist-worn devices that resemble smartwatches. These passively capture audio signatures from TV content, logging exposure to shows, films and live events without requiring viewers to sign in or self-report. In theory, fewer clicks, fewer lapses, better data.
Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s ceo, cast the move as part of a broader measurement push. He said the company’s task is to keep pushing accuracy as clients invest heavily in live programming that draws mass audiences. The co-viewing pilot, he added, builds on upgrades such as Big Data + Panel measurement, out-of-home expansion, live-streaming metrics and wearable-based tracking.
Co-viewing is not new territory for Nielsen, which has long tried to estimate how many people sit before a single set. What is new is the heavier integration of wearables and passive detection to reduce reliance on active inputs from panel homes.
For now, the pilot comes with caveats. Co-viewing estimates from the trial will not be folded into Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings, which remain the industry’s trading currency. Instead, pilot findings will be shared with clients a few weeks after final Big Data + Panel ratings are delivered. Clients may disclose those findings publicly.
More impact data will follow later this year. Full integration into Nielsen’s marketing-intelligence suite is slated as a longer-term play, with a target of bringing co-viewing into currency measurement for the 2026–2027 season. This is only phase one, with further co-viewing enhancements planned beyond 2026 and additional timelines to be announced.
The push fits a wider pattern. Nielsen has in recent years expanded big-data integration, adopted first-party data for live-streaming measurement and broadened out-of-home tracking. It also positions itself as the reference point for streaming metrics through products such as The Gauge and the Nielsen Streaming Top 10.
In a market where billions of ad dollars hinge on decimal points, counting who is in the room matters. If Nielsen can pin down shared viewing, the humble sofa could become prime measurement real estate. The race to count every eyeball just found a new wrist to watch.
Brands
Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board
Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.
Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.
“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.
The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.
Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.
The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.
MAM
Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships
At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.
Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.
Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.
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