According to a new piece from Marketing Interactive, it’s predicted that 59.5% of Google’s net global ad revenues will stem from mobile Internet ads this year, which is up 45.8% from 2015, and is forecasted to grow to nearly 75% by 2018. Yet as it matures, ad fraud is also beginning to creep in. In today’s age, ad fraud is already costing advertisers an estimated $8.2 billion in wasted ad investments according to a recent study by Click Mob and with it a ripple effect this leads to a diminishing trust in overall digital marketing.
The study found that Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, United States and United Kingdom are the top 5 countries targeted by ad fraud on Android devices, while Japan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Singapore and United States and most targeted on iOS devices.
Of all the countries, Japan seems to be impacted the hardest., Android-based fraud in Japan accounted for 12% of the total detected fraudulent activity and on iOS, fraudulent traffic attempts in Japan accounted for 11% out of the total detected fraudulent activity. The study explained that “Mobile app users in Japan are high value, and therefore are likely more targeted by fraudsters because the payout is high,”.
Interestingly payouts on iOS are higher than Android, and iOS’s higher susceptibility to ad fraud most likely reflects the willingness of an advertiser to pay for a new iOS user.
The timing of ad fraud also says something about the intentions of those committing it. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were the most targeted days for fraudulent advertising, with Friday’s drawing in 18% of total attempts. Most likely we can attribute this to the budget shift that occurs, where advertisers are typically spending more on weekends, and thus attracting more fraudulent traffic.
