In the past several years, app developers have been fighting install fraud to prevent billions of advertisers’ dollars from being stolen Thankfully, increased awareness of the dangers of mobile ad fraud has led to the advancement of protection solutions. A new report says that gaming apps face a much lesser risk of install fraud than non-gaming apps. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has reduced advertising budgets but mobile continues to be the fast-growing channel. Get all the details on these reports in this week’s Mobile Monday!
Non-gaming Apps Face a far Greater Risk of Install Fraud
AppsFlyer has released the 2020 edition of their annual report named The State of Mobile Ad Fraud which covers key global and regional trends regarding fraud during H1 2020. According to Appsflyer’s analysis, gaming apps face a much lesser risk of install fraud than non-gaming apps. More than 1 in every 4 non-organic installs is fraudulent among non-gaming apps. Mobile games have a much lower rate of 3.8%. The low fraud rate for gaming apps can be attributed to the advanced internal and external tools and methods that savvy gaming advertisers utilize to avert fraudsters.
Among non-gaming verticals, finance and travel apps had the highest fraud rates. The report points out that this is most likely due to higher than average cost per install rates and larger marketing budgets. These verticals are typically characterized by scale and high payouts, both of which are what fraudsters usually target. Unfortunately, the gaming vertical is more prone to attribution hijacking tactics. These rely on stealing credit for real users (organic and non-organic) through install hijacking and click flooding. Overall, 30% of fraud in this category comes from hijacking attempts, almost double the rate of non-gaming apps.
Nearly All Marketers Consider Mobile Ads Effective
In a collaborative report by WARC and MMA, marketing professionals across 26 markets in EMEA were surveyed about the current state of mobile marketing in the region. Despite reduced budgets due to COVID-19, mobile marketing is the fastest-growing channel. While only 39% of marketers said they would increase their mobile budgets, almost half of them (49%) said they will allocate more than a quarter of their budget to mobile advertising. This result jumped 9% since 2019 and confirms WARC’s forecast that mobile will continue to be the biggest driver of growth.
According to the report, nearly all marketers (94%) surveyed consider mobile ads effective. This is the fifth straight year that mobile has ranked as one of the most effective mediums among marketing professionals. Although the COVID-19 outbreak has reduced budgets, mobile has been less affected than desktop advertising because of the increasing usage of smartphones.
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