Pixalate’s March 2024 Ad Fraud Research on Mobile Apps with the Highest Invalid Traffic (IVT) Rate on Google, Apple App Stores: 20% Global IVT Rate
28 March 2024 - 6:13PM
Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and
compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile
Advertising, today released the March 2024 Mobile Apps IVT Reports
for the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The series reveals
which mobile apps appear to be most impacted by invalid traffic
(IVT), including ad fraud, as measured by Pixalate. To compile this
research, Pixalate’s data science team analyzed 5M+ downloadable
apps across the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and 17B+
global open programmatic advertising impressions from March 1-17,
2024. Pixalate’s research reveals the average global mobile in-app
IVT rate in this time period was 20%.The reports highlight the five
most common types of IVT that Pixalate observed across both mobile
app platforms during the study period, which are as follows:
- Display Impression Fraud
(Sophisticated Outlier Activity*): Involves
impressions generated from the same browser or device at a
statistically significant inflated rate.
- Video Impression Fraud (Sophisticated
Outlier Activity*): Video ad impressions that are
generated from the same browser or device at a statistically
significant inflated rate.
- Masked IP (Manipulation/Falsification
of Location Related Attributes*): Involves video ad
impressions generated from the same browser or device at a
statistically significant inflated rate.
- Proxy (Invalid Proxy
Traffic*): The impression is from an intermediary proxy
device that manipulates traffic counts, passes nonhuman or invalid
traffic, or fails to comply with the protocol.
- High-Risk Device ID (Known Dangerous
or Fraudulent SIVT Sources*): The impression is from a
device ID flagged for a high risk of invalid traffic.
*Note: Parenthetical information denotes IVT detection method(s)
per Media Rating Council (MRC) Invalid Traffic Guidelines.Pixalate
excluded spoofing from this report, as spoofing requires different
tactics to mitigate it (e.g., blocking an app highly impacted by
spoofing could lead to blocking apps with real traffic attractive
to buyers). See our Mobile App Spoofing series for a list of apps
most affected by the spoofing IVT type.Learn more about Pixalate’s
reported IVT types in our Knowledge Base.Google Play Store
Apps With the Highest Rates of IVT - March 20241. Kiss
Kiss: Spin the Bottle (51%)2. ARMY jimin chat fans BTS (50%)3.
Nitro Nation: Car Racing Game (50%)4. Givvy Coin Collector (50%)5.
クラシルリワード-移動・チラシ・レシートでポイントがたまる (48%)Apple App Store Apps
With the Highest Rates of IVT - March 20241. Swappy –
Jigsaw Puzzles (51%)2. Super Goal - Soccer Stickman (50%)3. How
Much Does My Crush Like Me (49%)4. Which Emoji Are You? - Game
(48%)5. Coffee Break - Cafe Simulation (48%)
Download the full list of the top 40 mobile apps (20 from Apple
App Store and 20 from Google Play Store) with the highest levels of
IVT in March 2024.
- Google Play Store apps with the highest IVT rates
- Apple App Store apps with the highest IVT rates
About PixalatePixalate is a global platform for
privacy compliance, ad fraud prevention, and data intelligence in
the digital ad supply chain. Founded in 2012, Pixalate’s platform
is trusted by regulators, data researchers, advertisers,
publishers, ad tech platforms, and financial analysts across the
Connected TV (CTV), mobile app, and website ecosystems. Pixalate is
MRC-accredited for the detection and filtration of Sophisticated
Invalid Traffic (SIVT). www.pixalate.com
DisclaimerThe content of this press release,
and the Mobile Apps With the Highest IVT Reports (the "Reports"),
reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate
believes can be useful to the digital media industry. Pixalate’s
opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither
facts nor guarantees. Pixalate is sharing this data not to impugn
the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but,
instead, to report findings and trends pertaining to programmatic
advertising activity in the time period studied. Per the MRC,
“'Fraud' is not intended to represent fraud as defined in various
laws, statutes and ordinances or as conventionally used in U.S.
Court or other legal proceedings, but rather a custom definition
strictly for advertising measurement purposes. Also per the MRC,
“‘Invalid Traffic’ is defined generally as traffic that does not
meet certain ad serving quality or completeness criteria, or
otherwise does not represent legitimate ad traffic that should be
included in measurement counts. Among the reasons why ad traffic
may be deemed invalid is it is a result of non-human traffic
(spiders, bots, etc.), or activity designed to produce fraudulent
traffic.”.
- Apple App Store Apps With the Highest Rates of IVT - March
2024
- Google Play Store Apps With the Highest Rates of IVT - March
2024
Nina Talcott
Pixalate Inc.
ntalcott@pixalate.com