New research into billions of open programmatic ad transactions and over 10 million clicks reveals invalid click trends - inclusive of fraud - across desktop web, mobile web, and mobile in-app: Desktop web (21% invalid click rate) appears to be the top target for ad fraudsters

Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising, today released the Q2 2023 Global Click Fraud Benchmarks Reports for desktop web, mobile web, and mobile app advertising.

The reports examine how many clicks on open programmatic advertisements were invalid or fraudulent - i.e., generated by invalid traffic (IVT) - in June 2023. Advertisers often optimize their campaigns for clicks. Fraudsters take advantage of this by generating fake clicks in an attempt to make their supply appear more valuable.

Key Findings:

• 17% invalid click rate for all open programmatic advertising across desktop web, mobile web, and mobile in-app in June 2023
• 21% invalid click rate for desktop web open programmatic advertising - the highest individual channel
• 16% invalid click rate for mobile web open programmatic ads
• 13% invalid click rate for mobile app open programmatic ads
• 20% of all invalid clicks on mobile apps are generated by click farms - sophisticated fraud schemes solely designed to generate fake clicks
• The 729x90 Leaderboard ad size had an invalid click rate of 26% on mobile apps - 2x higher than the total mobile app invalid click average (13%)

"The sophisticated schemes deployed by ad fraudsters are not just generating fake traffic but fake clicks as well,"  said Amit Shetty, VP of Product, Ad Fraud, at Pixalate. "Advertisers are willing to spend more for higher click-through rates. But this mindset should come with a heightened sense of scrutiny, as fraudsters always follow the money."