Understanding In-App Advertising Fraud

Mobile apps are the growth driver of the digital realm. While consumers’ time spent with desktop and TV has decreased worldwide over the past five years, time spent with mobile has more than doubled.1 This huge and diverse audience of mobile users, combined with the precision targeting capabilities and engaging ad formats only available in mobile apps, make in-app advertising increasingly popular among today’s top brands. As a result, ad spending for mobile is reaching a tipping point in which it is overtaking all other digital media formats.2 As brands allocate more of their ad budgets to mobile, this digital medium has also attracted fraudsters looking to game the system. Fraud in the mobile advertising ecosystem is something that everyone is aware of, but few want to talk about. But it is only through frank and transparent discussions about fraud that the industry can move forward in successfully combating the problem. This whitepaper examines the different types of fraud and the methods Smaato deploys to ensure a protected mobile marketplace.