Pixalate Releases Q3 2024 Mobile App Ad Fraud Trends by IAB App Category Reports: An Estimated $690+ Million Intended for ‘Video Gaming’ Apps Spent on IVT Instead

Pixalate’s data science team analyzed over 70 billion open programmatic ad transactions across 10 million mobile apps in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store during Q3 2024 to compile this global research, including breakdowns by region (North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM); In North America, “Music & Audio” apps had the highest Invalid Traffic (IVT, including ad fraud) rate (23%) among the top 10 most popular app categories (based on estimated open programmatic ad spend)

London, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  Pixalate, the global market-leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform, today released the Global Mobile App Ad Fraud & IVT Trends: IAB Categories for Open Programmatic Advertising Report.

Pixalate also released North America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Latin America (LATAM) versions of the report.

The reports analyze each region’s top 10 IAB app categories by estimated open programmatic ad spend, invalid traffic (IVT, including ad fraud) by app category, and the most prevalent types of IVT detected and identified within IAB app categories. Learn more about the types of invalid traffic detection.

Key Findings:

Global:

• “Video Gaming” IAB mobile app category had a global IVT rate (including ad fraud) of 21%, resulting in $690M+ ad spend lost in this category alone in Q3 2024.
• “Hobbies & Interests” IAB mobile app category had the highest IVT rate (29%) among the top 10 IAB app categories based on estimated open programmatic ad spend.
• “Display Impression Fraud” was the most common IVT type among the top 10 IAB app categories, accounting for 15% of all global IVT.

Regional Breakdowns:

• North America (21% overall regional IVT rate among apps in the top 10 IAB app categories):
  • “Music & Audio” had the highest IVT rate (23%) among the top 10 North American categories.
    • Apps in “News & Politics”, the No. 3 category by ad spend SOV (6%) had a 15% IVT rate.
  • “Display Impression Fraud” IVT type had the highest regional share of invalid traffic (13%).
• Latin America (23% overall regional IVT rate among apps in the top 10 IAB app categories):
  • “Technology & Computing” had the highest regional IVT rate (30%) among the top 10 LATAM categories.
  • “Display Impression Fraud” IVT type had the highest regional share of invalid traffic (27%).
• Asia Pacific (APAC) (25% overall regional IVT rate among apps in the top 10 IAB app categories):
  • “Healthy Living” had the highest regional IVT rate (41%) among the top 10 APAC categories.
  • “Display Impression Fraud” IVT type had the highest regional share of IVT (10%).
• Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) (20% overall regional IVT rate among apps in the top 10 IAB app categories):
  • “Healthy Living” had the highest IVT rate (29%) among the top 10 EMEA categories
  • “Display Impression Fraud” IVT type had the highest regional share of invalid traffic (18%).

Pixalate’s data science team analyzed over 70 billion open programmatic ad transactions across 10 million mobile apps in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store (including apps deemed delisted by Pixalate) in Q3 2024 to compile the research in this series. Pixalate’s datasets consist predominantly of buy-side open auction programmatic traffic sources.

Download the Reports

Download the reports for a complete analysis and review of each region’s top 10 IAB app categories by estimated open programmatic ad spend and the top IVT types within each category:

• Global
• North America
• EMEA
• APAC
• LATAM

About Pixalate

Pixalate is a global market-leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform. Pixalate works 24/7 to guard your reputation and grow your media value by offering the only system of coordinated solutions across display, app, video, and CTV for the detection and elimination of ad fraud. Pixalate is an MRC-accredited service for the detection and filtration of sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) across desktop and mobile web, mobile in-app, and CTV advertising. www.pixalate.com

Disclaimer

The content of this press release, and the Mobile App IVT Trends: IAB Categories Reports, reflect Pixalate’s opinions with respect to the factors that Pixalate believes can be useful to the digital media industry. Any data shared is grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating. Any references to outside sources should not be construed as endorsements. 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 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.”

CONTACT: Nina Talcott
ntalcott@pixalate.com