Mobile Ad Fraud: The Silent Threat to Mobile Marketing

 

The mobile application market is thriving. App downloads are in the billions, and global spending on apps has exceeded $170 billion. However, with growth comes a headache that costs businesses billions of dollars every year: Mobile Ad Fraud.

In order to clarify, Mobile Ad Fraud is simply when fake activity (i.e. bots generating clicks and/or installs) pretends to be valid users. On the surface, your ad campaign looks successful, and in reality, you may have paid for traffic that does not exist. For mobile marketers, it’s like putting money into a leaking bucket.

Why Mobile Ad Fraud is Bad for Advertisers?

The frightening aspect is how deceptive Mobile Ad Fraud can be. It doesn’t just waste ad budgets; it also alters campaign data. When advertisers review their reports, false installs or false clicks may mislead them into thinking a strategy is generating an honest outcome, when it is not. Which means future decisions could be based on deceit.

So if you're wondering how marketers can measure the impact of mobile app deep linking, I should introduce you to a mobile measurement partner or MMP. There are many different companies and tools to choose from, but Apptrove is a necessary key partner in the process of allowing brands to measure the entire process from when the user clicks the link to the action taken inside the app. Without something to measure the impact of deep linking app tracking would be like shooting in the dark. Apptrove gives marketers answers and lets them know what works, what doesn't work and how they should be spending their money going forward, which is why many app marketers are using it even more today.

Let’s say, for instance, that you have a game app you are promoting, to which you are spending thousands of dollars on advertising. Your report will show thousand of installs — but when you check back in a week, no one is actually playing. That is the impact of Mobile Ad Fraud, and the reason why the mobile ecosystem takes it so seriously.

Real-Time Fraud Detection: Fighting Back Fast

Fortunately, technology is addressing the issue. With Real-time fraud detection, marketers are able to identify any suspicious activity as it occurs. This allows a marketer to find fake installs, bots, or click farms before they cost you a campaign.

Real-time fraud detection also improves campaign accuracy. Instead of usually waiting weeks to find out your numbers were inflated, you will receive alerts immediately and can selectively pause the bad campaigns while focusing on the good ones.

The Different Forms of Mobile Ad Fraud

 Click Fraud

This occurs when either bots or fraudsters without a real user create fake clicks on an ad. This would cost the advertiser money and no real user showed interest.

 Install Fraud

When a fraudster tricks the system into recording its fake app installs, this is install fraud. For instance, a fraudster could use emulators to begin using thousands of phones.

 Attribution Fraud

Attribution fraud is a form of Mobile Ad Fraud which steals attribution for actual installs. Usually a fraudster would have multiple instances of a campaign with three fraudulent tactics, which include “click injection” making it seem the fraudster contributed to the install when the user would have downloaded the app regardless of the campaign.

 Engagement Fraud

Some of the more advanced schemes can trick advertisers into thinking there is in-app activity in order to make it more advanced, thereby creating fake users less detectable. These obviously play to the marketer's disadvantages.

Mobile Fraud Prevention: Staying Ahead

Preventing fraud is not just about stopping it; it is about establishing preventative measures. This is why Mobile fraud prevention have become a must-have for any app marketer. By enforcing rules, filtering traffic, and verifying the source of the traffic, Mobile fraud prevention minimizes developer risks so that they can run their campaigns with confidence even before they launch.

It's the equivalent of locking your doors when you leave for the day. Instead of just waiting for a thief to break in, you are ensuring it is very hard for them to do so in the first place.

The True Cost of Mobile Ad Fraud

The numbers are jarring. Industry reports estimate Mobile Ad Fraud costs advertisers in excess of $80 billion each year. That’s money diverted from reaching REAL users, developing better products, or scaling successful campaigns.

The fallout is about more than money too, Mobile Ad Fraud erodes trust between advertisers and ad networks. The mobile ecosystem suffers when a marketer is not able to trust their data.

Final Thoughts

Essentially, mobile ad fraud is a game of cat and mouse. Fraudsters develop new tactics and marketers have better tools and smarter strategies to keep up and stay ahead. The important lesson is to take it seriously, invest in prevention, and don't ever assume that the numbers from a campaign represent everything.

For mobile marketers, protecting budgets and ensuring data accuracy is just as important to obtaining installs and increasing engagement. Mobile ad fraud prevention deserves attention, and with tools like Real-time fraud detection and Mobile fraud prevention, the industry can safeguard growth through real engagement with people and not fake clicks.