ad fraud benchmarksq1 2017 - pixalate,...

PIXALATE’S Q1 2017 AD FRAUD BENCHMARKS REPORT ©2017 PIXALATE, INC. 1The Quality Ratings StandardFor Programmatic Advertising

AD FRAUD BENCHMARKSQ1 2017

POWERED BY PIXALATE MEDIA RATING TERMINAL


ABOUTThe Pixalate Quarterly Ad Fraud Benchmarks report updates the digital advertising industry on the state of ad fraud in the programmatic marketplace.

Billions of dollars are lost to digital ad fraud each year. Trust and transparency are the most pressing issues in the pro-grammatic ecosystem today, and ad fraud is at the center of the discussion.

We believe creating a more transparent marketplace is a piv-otal first step in the fight against fraud. To properly tackle the problem, the industry must first fully understand the problem. Our analysis takes a deep dive into granular ad fraud statis-tics across devices, screens, and channels to paint the most accurate picture of the challenges.

The research contained in this report gives buyers and sellers alike an honest, thorough review of the state of the industry. Our data and insights can be used as a valuable resource as the ad world combats fraud together.

is a leading global data intelligence platform and real-time fraud protection provider. Pixalate is a Media Rating Council-certified vendor for display ad viewability.


Programmatic impression ad fraud rates varied across channels in Q1 2017. Some key top-level findings include:

• Desktop: 31% of programmatic desktopimpressions were fraudulent in Q1 2017.

• Mobile: 36% fraud rate on smartphones,17% fraud rate on tablets.

• Connected TV/OTT: 51% of connectedTV/OTT impressions were fraudulent.

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40%

50%

36%Smartphone

51%ConnectedTV/OTT

31% Desktop

13%Tablet

AD FRAUD IMPRESSION RATES BY DEVICE

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3X

1.5X

3

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of impressions available for programmatic purchase across devices, screens, and channels, Q1 2017.

AD FRAUD BY DEVICE


Our insights also reveal the extent to which geography can impact program-matic ad fraud rates.

• Over one-third (35%) of programmat-ically-traded desktop ad impressionsin the U.S. were fraudulent in Q1 2017.

• Brazil (36%) and Japan (81%) were twoof the most notable countries that hadhigher fraud rates than the U.S.

• The U.K., the No. 3 country in terms ofprogrammatic impression volume, hada fraudulent desktop impression rateof 16% in Q1 — less than half of whatthe U.S. experienced

DESKTOP AD FRAUD IMPRESSION RATES BY COUNTRY

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JapanBrazil

United States

Germany

Canada

Russian Federation

Australia

United Kingdom

Mexico

FranceSpain

IndiaChina

Italy

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of impressions available forprogrammatic purchase, Q1 2017.

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DESKTOP: AD FRAUD BY COUNTRY


In the programmatic ad-buying world mobile has become king. And ad fraud rates can vary between smartphone and tablets across different countries.

• The U.S. had the fourth-highest smart-phone ad fraud rate of any country inthe entire world, at 38%.

• Greece (48%), Germany (43%), andMalaysia (40%) were the only countrieswhich saw higher programmatic mobilead fraud rates than the U.S.

• The U.S. saw tablet ad fraud at a rateof 17%

• The U.K. had nearly identical smart-phone and tablet ad fraud rates (7%).

MOBILE AD FRAUD BY COUNTRY AND DEVICE

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Tablet Fraud Impression %Smartphone Fraud Impression %

RussianFederation

ItalyChina

SpainJapan

IndiaUnited Kingdom

FranceCanada

Australia

BrazilMexico

United States

Germany

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of impressions available for programmatic purchase across smartphones and tablets, Q1 2017.

MOBILE: AD FRAUD BY COUNTRY


We also uncovered revealing figures about programmatic video ad fraud rates in Q1 2017:

• In the U.S., 27% of programmatic videoimpressions were fraudulent duringQ1 2017.

• Canada (23%), France (21%), Italy (20%),Russia (19%), and Japan (19%) all hadsimilar video ad impression fraud rates,at roughly one-in-five.

• The U.K. had a programmatic video adfraud rate of 12% — roughly half of theU.S.’s figure.

• Among leading countries in terms ofprogrammatic supply, only Brazil (9%)and Australia (4%) had programmaticvideo ad fraud rates below 10%.

VIDEO AD FRAUD IMPRESSION RATES BY COUNTRY

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IndiaUnited States

Canada

FranceItaly

Russian Federation

JapanSpain

Mexico

Germany

United Kingdom

ChinaBrazil

Australia

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of impressions available forprogrammatic purchase, Q1 2017.

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VIDEO: AD FRAUD BY COUNTRY


MOBILE: IN-APP

The ad industry often uses the word “mobile” to describe both smartphone and tablet inventory. But, at least in the ad fraud world, mobile is truly a tale of two devices.

• Smartphones: Over one-third (36%)of in-app programmatic inventorywas fraudulent..

• Tablets: 12% of in-app programmaticinventory was fraudulent.

This large, notable difference in in-app ad fraud rates could have a profound impact on any media buyer who approaches smartphone and tablet fraud equally.AD

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APP AD FRAUD IMPRESSION RATES BY DEVICE

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Smartphone 36% Tablet 12%

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of in-app impressions available for programmatic purchase across smartphones and tablets, Q1 2017


The discrepancy between smartphone and tablet ad fraud rates extends beyond in-app environments as well.

• Smartphone app display inventory is1.2x more likely to be fraudulent thansmartphone web inventory.

• Tablets, meanwhile, have equal app andweb fraud rates, at 12%.

• Upwards of one-in-three ad dollars spenton display advertising on smartphonesare wasted, and upwards of one-in-tenare wasted on tablet display ads.

• Overall, for mobile display advertising,smartphone inventory is up to 3xmore likely to be fraudulent thantablet inventory.0%

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12%Tablet App

1.2X

37%SmartphoneApp

12% Tablet Web

30%SmartphoneWeb

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SMARTPHONE VS. TABLET DISPLAY AD FRAUD RATES

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of impressions availablefor programmatic purchase across smartphones and tablets, Q1 2017.

MOBILE: DISPLAY


Our research reveals that device type can also have an immense impact on mobile video ad fraud rates.

• Tablet app video ad fraud was 17%

• Tablet web video was fraudulentroughly 13% of the time.

• Smartphone web video inventory wasfraudulent 56% of the time

• Smartphone app video ad fraud rateswere 37%

• Smartphone app video inventory wasroughly 3x more likely to be fraudu-lent than tablet app inventory

• Smartphone web video was roughly5x more likely to be fraudulent thantablet web video.

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SMARTPHONE VS. TABLET VIDEO AD FRAUD RATES

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37%SmartphoneApp Video

17%Tablet App Video

13% TabletWeb Video

56%SmartphoneWeb Video

1.5X

1.3X1 3X

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of video ad impressions available for programmatic purchase across smartphones and tablets, Q1 2017

MOBILE: VIDEO


MOBILE: AD FRAUD BY DEVICE AND OPERATING SYSTEM

We also uncovered the differences in ad fraud rates across major mobile oper-ating systems, including Android, iOS, and Windows.

• Android: Smartphone ad inventory is2x more likely to be fraudulent thantablet inventory

• iOS: Smartphone app video inventoryis 3.7x more likely to be fraudulentthan tablets

• Windows: Smartphone ad inventoryis 10x more likely to be fraudulentthan tablets

Additionally, our study found:

• Android’s smartphone ad fraud rateof 38% is 1.8x higher than Apple’s rateof 21%.

• Android’s tablet ad fraud rate of 19% isover 3x higher than Apple’s rate of 6%

MOBILE AD FRAUD RATES BY DEVICE AND OPERATING SYSTEM

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AD F

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Source: Pixalate data research, global, data for smartphone and tablet users across operating systems. Data shows difference in ad fraud rates between devices and OS, Q1 2017.

3%WindowsTablet

30%WindowsSmartphone

6%IOS Tablet

21%IOS Smartphone

19%Android Tablet

38%AndroidSmartphone

3.7X


Each web browser is susceptible to ad fraud in its own way. Here are some of our key findings for the world’s most popular web browsers.

• Google Chrome, the most popularbrowser, had an ad fraud rate of 28%.

• Internet Explorer had an ad fraud rateof 42%, most of all major browsers.

• Safari, the third of the “big three”browsers, had a significantly lower pro-grammatic ad fraud rate, at 10%.

• Firefox (37%) had the second-highestad fraud rate of the five biggestbrowsers.

• Opera’s ad fraud rate of 28% was equiv-alent to Chrome’s.

42% Internet Explorer

10% Safari

28% Chrome

28% Opera

37% Firefox

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of impressions available forprogrammatic purchase across common web browsers, Q1

AD FRAUD RATES BY BROWSER

DESKTOP: AD FRAUD BY BROWSER


The most popular web browsers have dif-ferent ad fraud rates on mobile devices as well:

• Chrome’s mobile-only ad fraud ratewas 38%, higher than its desktop adfraud rate.

• Safari’s (9%) mobile-only ad fraud rateis significantly lower than all of theother major browsers.

• Safari (9%), Firefox (39%), and Opera(23%) all have similar mobile-only adfraud rates compared to their desktopad fraud rates.

36% Internet Explorer

38% Chrome

39% Firefox

23% Opera

9% Safari

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of impressions available forprogrammatic purchase across common web browsers, Q1 2017.

MOBILE AD FRAUD RATES BY BROWSER

MOBILE: AD FRAUD BY BROWSER


VIDEO: BY DEVICE & CHANNEL

One of the many perks of the increas-ingly cordless world of entertainment is the ability to watch videos on a variety of devices and screens. For marketers and publishers hoping to avoid ad fraud, however, it only increases the number of factors they have to pay attention to. Video ad fraud rates can vary consider-ably based on device and channel.

• Smartphone web video inventory wasfraudulent over half (56%) of the time.

• Smartphone app video inventory hada fraud rate of 37%.

• Connected TV/OTT had a 39% fraud rate.

• Desktop app and web had nearly iden-tical video ad fraud rates, at 24% and23%, respectively.

VIDEO AD FRAUD IMPRESSION RATESBY DEVICE & CHANNEL

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39%Connected TV/OTT

56%Smartphone Web

37%Smartphone App

24%Desktop App

23%Desktop Web

17%Tablet App

13%Tablet Web

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Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of video ad impressions available for programmatic purchase, Q1 2017.


320 X 480

MOBILE APP VIDEO AD FRAUD RATES BY AD UNIT SIZETABLET APP FRAUD RATES

33% 16%

6%320 X 250

480 X 320

Source: Pixalate data research, global. Data inclusive of ad impressions available for programmatic purchase, Q1 2017.

%

MOBILE: TABLET APP VIDEO FRAUD BY AD UNIT SIZE

Tablet apps feature several different common ad units for video buyers and sellers, and each ad unit is targeted by fraudsters in its own unique way:

• The 320x480 tablet video ad unit wasfraudulent 33% of the time in Q1 2017.

• The 480x320 ad unit had an ad fraudrate of 16% on tablets.

• The 320x250 video ad unit was fraud-ulent 6% of the time.


1920 X 1080

MOBILE APP VIDEO AD FRAUD RATES BY AD UNIT SIZESMARTPHONE APP FRAUD RATES

320 X 480

56%

35%

23%

320 X 250

480 X 320

38%


56%

MOBILE: SMARTPHONE APP VIDEO FRAUD BY AD UNIT SIZE

Our research found that fraudsters go hard after the most common ad unit sizes for video ads within smartphone apps:

• The 320x480 video ad unit withinsmartphone apps was fraudulent 56%of the time.

• The 480x320 ad unit was fraudulent38% of the time.

• The 320x250 video unit had an inappad fraud rate of 35% on smartphone.

• The 1920x1080 unit (full-screen) hadan ad fraud rate of 23%.


320 X 480

MOBILE DISPLAY AD FRAUD RATES BY AD UNIT SIZETABLET APP FRAUD RATES

18% 16%

15%

9%

3%

320 X 50

728 X 90

4%728 X 90

320 X 250

TABLET WEB FRAUD RATES

320 X 250


18%%

MOBILE: TABLET FRAUD BY AD UNIT SIZE - APP & WEB

Fraudsters target different ad units across tablet web and app inventory:

• The 320x50 ad unit was fraudulent 18%of the time within tablet apps in Q1 2017.

• The 320x480 tablet app display ad unithad an ad fraud rate of 16%.

• The 320x250 app unit had a fraud rateof 15%, while the 320x250 web unit hada lower ad fraud rate, at 9%.


MOBILE DISPLAY AD FRAUD RATES BY AD UNIT SIZE

5% 5%320 X 250

37%320 X 50

SMARTPHONE APP FRAUD RATES

SMARTPHONE WEB FRAUD RATES

480 X 320


HONE WEB FE WE AUD SATER

MOBILE: SMARTPHONE FRAUD BY AD UNIT SIZE - APP & WEB

Interestingly, despite the high overall ad fraud rate for mobile web display inven-tory, there isn’t one common ad unit that’s specifically targeted by fraudsters.

• The 320x50 ad unit was fraudulent 37%of the time within smartphone apps inQ1 2017.

• The 320x250 smartphone web unit wasfraudulent 5% of the time.

• The 320x50 mobile web ad unit had anad fraud rate of 4%.


DISPLAY: AD FRAUD RATE BY DOMAIN CATEGORY

According to our research, fraudsters are much more active in certain domain categories compared to others. Some key findings:

• Just over half (50%) of programmaticad impressions in the “Society & Cul-ture” domain category were fraudulent.

• The Business & Economy vertical is alsohit hard by fraudsters, with a 39% adfraud rate.

• Programmatic ads within the Govern-ment vertical were fraudulent 27% ofthe time.

• The Education (18%), Arts (17%), andScience (13%) verticals had the lowestad fraud rates.

As publishers and marketers strike more programmatic deals, the potential impact a vertical has on ad fraud should not be overlooked.

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PROGRAMMATIC AD FRAUD RATES BY DOMAIN CATEGORY

13% Science

17% Arts

18% Education

21% Computer & Internet

22% Health

23% News & Media

24% Entertainment

27% Government

34% Recreation

39% Business & Economy

50% Society & Culture

Domain CategorySource: Pixalate data research, global. Data shows programmatic ad fraud rates by Yahoo-defined publisher verticals, Q1 2017


METHODOLOGY Pixalate’s team of data scientists analyzed billion ad impressions throughout Q1 2017 utilizing proprietary

analytics tools to compile this research. The data was aggregated based on unfiltered sold impressions throughout the programmatic ecosystem. Devices were detected based on user agent provided in the bid stream that were then categorized by using the wurfl device detection system.

DISCLAIMER The research and insights contained within this report represent Pixalate’s data and opinions as it pertains to the informa-tion Pixalate believes will be most relevant to the digital advertising industry’s battle against ad fraud. The data has not been audited or reviewed by a third party, but the research and insights are grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating.

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ad fraud benchmarksq1 2017 - pixalate,...

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