How to Monitor & Manage Mobile Ad Fraud

The success of your ad campaign relies not only on the quality and scope of the ad itself. The depredation caused by an ad fraud operation (with or without the knowledge of your advertiser network) would most likely bear significant losses to the ad budget. Although the process is commonly seen as a hassle, securing your ad campaign against ongoing mobile ad fraud is easier than it sounds and is the least you should do if you want true success with your ad campaign. Without the help of a Fraud Detection Service, unearthing hidden clues in a Do-It-Yourself manner might help you ease or justify the suspicion of fraud in your marketing campaign.

– Keep an Eye on the Numbers.

While being nonsensical at first glance, raw data provided by your advertiser might unexpectedly help you in figuring out a possible mobile ad fraud happening in your ad campaign. Data trends such as Device Models, Device IDs, Location Info, and IP Addresses hide your go-to clues for potential ad fraud. Any unusual indication or patternization about those numbers, whether recurrences or sequentialness, should be noted for and be understood as a potentially fraudulent activity.

Comparing the location info with your specified location shouldn’t be overlooked too (to some extent, comparing the location of the Device with the Service Provider’s operating zone limits might surface some extra info too) as it might hide fraudulent activity.

Another thing to note here is that a sudden change in any value such as CPI’s and engagements in short periods of non-specific times might mean that an automated action (meaning non-organic engagement or ad fraud, per se) is going on.

Alternatively, acknowledging the potential of your mobile app and calculating the average CPI to be reached before the ad campaign also gives you control data for unexpected increases and decreases throughout the campaign and helps identify mobile ad fraud.

-Take a Look Beyond the Install Rates

An ad campaign aims to reach a satisfying CPI ratio but as we all know, the success actually comes not from the CPI ratios, but the actual engagement after installs. Looking for offshoots in the app engagement statistics, especially sometime after the occurrence of CPI shows the reliance of your ad network too. If a discrepancy is found, a swift intervention can be made in the ad campaign as an on-the-road solution (although this might mean that your target audience might also be wrong, it will enable an optimization possibility to change the designated target audience).

– Avoid Incentivized Installs

Even though there were studies shedding light on the beneficial nature of incentivized installs, they are not devoid of disadvantages. Incentivized installs can make your mobile app you advertised get CPI’s and engagements at the same time with the cost of altering the reaction of your target audience to the app and after the incentivized reward is claimed, the user gets accustomed to the instant-rewarding nature of the app and therefore leave the app if that is not provided. And since every CPI also means an engagement, a long-term survey of subsequent usage is needed for the understanding of your ad campaign’s success and unfortunately, this takes time.

– Collaborate with a Fraud Detection Service

The most helpful solution for detecting and preventing ad fraud, however, is to use a third-party Fraud Detection Service. These enable the advertiser to see the data provided by your advertisement network in a more understandable way. The steps mentioned above might take a lot of time and manpower to fulfill and even after that, the results might not be correct due to the lack of control data. Fraud Detection Services such as Interceptd’s real-time fraud prevention service and A.I. powered software can change the time-consuming nature of preventing fraud in mobile app advertisement with real-time monitoring and meticulous metrics analyses and alarms for instant intervention. To tackle the widest range of ad fraud types along with other smart security features, a Fraud Detection Service is doubtlessly needed.

– Final Words

 Ad fraud is becoming more and more pronounced among the advertising circles and is labeled as a frightening industry reality. Fighting against mobile ad fraud with the best you can do for your ad campaign is the needed response the world is giving, whether by yourself or by getting professional help from Fraud Detection Services. As Interceptd, we are gladly offering hassle-free help to detect and prevent ad fraud for your ad campaign. Try it free.