Since the advent of mobile advertising, the industry has been forced to confront what many have called the plague of mobile ad fraud. Yet, over time, the transparent efforts and undeniable innovation on the part of numerous players across the mobile advertising landscape have yielded stellar results that now lend clarity to the names of the ad platforms that currently rank highest in trust and quality.
On Tuesday, Pixalate — a respected fraud protection and data intelligence company — unveiled the industry’s first in-app Mobile Seller Trust Index (MSTI).
“With the new MSTI,” a provided statement reads, “Pixalate is providing clarity on how supply quality in mobile should be evaluated based on factors including legitimate inventory, fraud, transparency and location.”
All told, the MSTI evaluates 125 supply-side platforms with in-app mobile inventory based on comprehensive analysis of some five billion impressions. It’s a sweeping assessment that VentureBeat‘s Barry Levine playfully calls a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for sellers of in-app ad space.”
Pixalate, however, prefers to liken the ranking system to Amazon’s online marketplace, which lends buying guidance to others through the meticulous ranking of both sellers and products.
By the fraud protection firm’s own admission, the inception of this index warrants mixed reaction — jubilation in response to the growing number of ad platforms that have stepped up their game, but also concern about the long and lingering list of those still beleaguered by low quality of traffic and relatively high levels of fraud.
Pixalate CEO Jalal Nasir says that supply quality measurement for in-app mobile ads “has become a minefield for buyers,” noting further that the study revealed how 38 percent of in-app mobile ad inventory remains fraudulent.
Consequently, of the laundry list of ad platforms ranked, all eyes are gravitating toward the cream of the crop — the top ten platforms ranking highest in quality and trust per Pixalate’s pervasive criteria:
- Amobee
- Rubicon Project
- Big Mobile Group
- Millennial Media Exchange
- OpenX
- Airpush
- Marketplace
- Google AdExchange
- Nexage Inc.
- InMobi
Those making the top ten cut understandably appreciate the recognition following protracted efforts to deserve such elevated placement.
“At Airpush, we have always had a heavy focus on keeping the quality of our mobile inventory at or above industry standards,” said Cameron V Peebles, Head of Global Marketing for L.A.-based Airpush, in response to the publication of Pixalate’s Index.
Of the 125 sellers of mobile ad inventory, Airpush was ranked No. 6 worldwide.
Asserting that Airpush has dedicated “immense resources and manpower” to reduce mobile ad fraud, Cameron says the Pixalate acknowledgement “is a huge validation of all of our hard work we have done to ensure that Airpush advertisers around the world have consistent access to one of the largest, most reliable and most profitable mobile ad libraries available today.”
Pixalate plans to update the Index monthly. To learn more or to download the full report, click here.
