Glossary
What is GIVT and SIVT?
Also called: GIVT, SIVT, general invalid traffic, sophisticated invalid traffic
GIVT and SIVT are the MRC's two types of invalid traffic: general IVT, caught with lists, and sophisticated IVT, which needs advanced analysis.
हिंदी में पढ़ेंThe Media Rating Council splits invalid traffic in two. GIVT, general invalid traffic, is found through routine filtering with lists: data-centre traffic, declared crawlers and spiders, non-browser user agents and prefetch requests. It is normal, filtered as a matter of course and usually not the publisher’s fault.
SIVT, sophisticated invalid traffic, is harder to detect and needs advanced analytics and corroboration. Examples include hijacked devices or sessions, hidden or stacked ads, bots that mimic humans, incentive manipulation and misrepresented sites. SIVT is what drives deductions and account reviews, and sometimes the cause is on the publisher’s side, such as bought traffic that carries bots, or an ad slot hidden under another.
For GIVT, the industry uses the IAB/ABC International Spiders and Bots List, updated monthly. A visit must match a real browser and avoid the robot list, or it is filtered. A bot that lies about its name gets past the list, which is where SIVT detection comes in.
Example
Four visits reach news.example. A declared search crawler and a request from a data-centre server are GIVT. A hijacked phone loading pages in the background and an ad hidden under another ad are SIVT. So 2 of 4, or 50%, are caught by lists, and the other 2 need deeper analysis.
Why it matters to publishers
GIVT is routine housekeeping; SIVT is what gets publishers flagged. Checking paid traffic sources and making sure no slot is hidden or overlapped tackles the SIVT risks you control.