$230 Billion is the figure forecast to be spent on mobile ads in 2019, as with other channels and devices it's an extremely lucrative area for fraudsters, but not so for those who are paying.
I write a lot about the ongoing madness associated with fraudulent ad tech, along with the continued crazy investment in the medium by major brands, and the ad agencies who place those ad bets for them.
As 'programmatic' ad tech finds it's way into the Smart TV world, the increase in ad fraud will continue to gather momentum along with the growth of those ad tech platforms, these are the winners of ad tech, they sit in the middle of all this madness without any real ownership or way to audit the level of fraud on behalf of clients by their agencies.
With every bit of evidence telling brands we are sick and tired of the Tsunami of 'intrusive ads' why, oh why do brands persist in this strategy?
I read this recent piece of research (link below) which has been provided by a company trying to help solve the issue, so without spoiling it for you here's a few highlights.
The most common forms of fraud involve invalid traffic (IVT). High-quality, data-rich traffic is what advertisers are paying for to make their campaigns a success. Fraudsters hope to mimic genuine traffic to earn money illegitimately. To make the traffic appear as authentic as possible, fraudsters often deploy several different tactics at once.
Click Fraud: Malicious bots or human-operated “click farms” generate money from advertisers who pay more for ad spaces with high click-through rates or pay on a per-click basis. They mimic this behavior to collect payment. Another form of click fraud is click injection, in which over-permissioned Android apps trigger a click before the installation of a new app is complete. The fraudster then receives credit for the install with any relevant campaigns.
Retargeting Fraud: Bots imitate the behavior of interested customers to attract higher retargeting eCPMs across apps participating in the fraud. Malicious code generates traffic when a smartphone is not even being used. This inactive application “shows” ads that will not be seen by users.
Maybe it's time for you to take a look at an alternative way?
Mobile ad fraud is a scam committed by criminals that affects the entire supply chain: publishers, advertisers, and everyone in between. The methods used by fraudsters are increasingly sophisticated, as mobile ad fraud is conducted with the goal of evading detection to steal as much money as possible.
https://www.smaato.com/blog/mobile-ad-fraud-in-2019-tools-and-tactics-used-by-fraudsters/
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