Mobile Marketing:
In its nascent phase, mobile marketing was meant to send promotional texts through SMS services. However, things have significantly changed in the last decade or so. Nowadays, the large chunk of mobile marketing is carried out through the ads appearing on apps. The prevalence of smartphones is the major reason for this dynamic shift in the domain of mobile advertising.
We are fully aware of the fact that every innovation comes with certain unwanted implications. On one hand, the constant Internet connectivity of users and mobile applications has made it easier for marketers to reach out to them in a more effective manner. But on the other hand, it has also provided fraudsters more room to temper mobile ad campaigns with the use of technology.
It is important for marketers to know the details of most prevailing ad frauds in the field of mobile advertising so that their promotional campaigns don’t end up in disappointment.
Ad Stacking:
App install ads are generally charged as per the number of placements. This means the advertisement is charged for every single display of an ad on the user’s device. Getting organic impressions through separate ad placement is no easy task. Therefore, fraudulent mobile advertising platforms start to do stacking in which multiple ads are stacked over each other and the user can only see the one on top. All these stacked ads are of no value and fraudsters rip off the advertisers for all those impressions that are not actually made.
Single Pixel Ad:
Most of the times users skip the app install ads in organic marketing traffic. Instead of using effective marketing tools, fraudulent mobile advertising platforms stuff the ad into a single pixel on the screen to circumvent this problem. This sort of ad remains invisible to users and hence they are not able to skip it. However, the impression is registered as a legitimate one.
Ad Bombardment:
The organic impression is the one where an ad appears on the screen when the user is on the phone. But deceitful mobile advertising platforms start to bombard apps with ads even when the user is not using the given app. Every time the ad is loaded onto the app, an impression is registered even when the user is not looking at it.
Autoplay in Video Ads:
Video ads are an effective and engaging way to reach out to consumers in app install ads. However, fraudsters have exploited this feature as well. They load videos when apps are running in the background and the user is not actually using the app.
Automatic Redirections:
It is another false and inorganic way to register an impression. This entails the redirection of the user to the given ad’s landing page without his permission. Such impressions seldom transform into lead generation or conversion.
Deceptive Interface:
Using deceptive interface in install app ads is another way through which fraudsters try to get as many impressions as possible.
Luckily, advertisers can now utilize mobile advertising platforms that proactively make sure that any install app and is not getting any fraudulent traffic.