40% of Mobile Ad Clicks Are Fraudulent Or Accidental

Mobile

September 17, 2012 -- Approximately 10% of Internet ad traffic comes from mobile devices (comScore, March 2012) yet 40% of mobile ad clicks have proven to be fraudulent or accidental.

Trademob, Europe's leading mobile app marketing platform, examined approximately 6 million mobile display ad clicks from all over the world, and determined that 22% of clicks were accidental and 18% were fraudulent, resulting in wasted ad dollars.

Source: eMarketer

Accidental clicks can be attributed to small screens and 'fat fingers,' while mobile click fraud, which is on the rise (up from 10% in January 2012 says the study), falls into two categories: server side and botnets/client-side.

Eight percent of fraudulent clicks are the result of app publishers who use a server to register false clicks.  Examples of sophisticated botnet/client-side fraud: the deployment of botnets on hijacked devices to manipulate mobile click data and client-side fraud where the fraudster hides one banner ad behind another getting credit for both clicks.

eMarketer states, "As mobile display advertising matures, the number of accidental clicks should decrease. Fraudulent clicks should also subside as the industry gets a better handle on how to address mobile-specific challenges."
 

Source: eMarketer, Are Marketers Wasting Money on Mobile Ad Clicks?, September 17, 2012 and Gigaom, Report: 40 percent of mobile ad clicks are fraud or accidents, August 31, 2012.