Mobile Ad Fraud Could Cost U.S. Advertisers $857 Million Yearly
Mobile Ad Fraud Could Cost U.S. Advertisers $857 Million Yearly
by Ben Frederick @mp_benfred, 69 minutes ago
In-app fraud could surpass $1 billion globally in 2015, a new study finds. ... Mobile ad fraud is keeping pace with the ever-expanding mobile market, says digital ad fraud detection firm Forensiq. The company's study details the nature and scope of ad fraud in mobile, including a new type of mobile in-app fraud called mobile device hijacking.
More than 13% of the 16.2 billion daily mobile in-app impressions Forensiq observed were flagged as high-risk. The company estimates the annual cost of fraud to advertisers is more than $857 million.
When a user downloads and installs a fraudulent app, the app begins to call a lot of ads. Such apps can continue to run even when closed or minimized, run on the background when the device is booted up, and can serve ads at a rate of up to 20 per minute. ... Legitimate apps refresh ads every 30 to 120 seconds. The fraudulent app may ask for odd permissions that have nothing to do with its actual function. If the unwitting user agrees, the malicious software in the app is given space to work.
All this background activity can wear down a users battery quickly and use up to 2GB of data per day for a single app. Only about 10%-20% of the ads served end up being viewable to the user and thats if they have the app open.