Impression fraud

What is impression fraud?

Impression fraud, also known as display fraud, is a type of mobile ad fraud that creates fake ad views. This type of fraud causes severe problems for advertisers and ad networks that run ads based on CPM payment model, as it can lead to them paying for ad space that is not being seen by real users.

How do impression frauds work?

Impression fraud can be implemented through bots, automated scripts that mimic the behavior of real users, and artificially inflate ad metrics. For example, a fraudster might use a bot to repeatedly load an ad on a website, creating the appearance that the ad has been viewed by a large number of people.

Fraudsters also use malware to commit impression fraud. This malware is designed to hide on a user's device and automatically load ads in the background, creating the appearance that the ad has been viewed by a real person.

Impression fraud vs. click fraud

Impression fraud, as the name suggests, involves creating fake ad impressions.

Click fraud, on the other hand, involves generating fake or fraudulent clicks on ads. The goal of click fraud is to make it seem like an ad has been clicked on by more people than it actually has, which can lead to advertisers paying for ad space that has not been clicked by real users.

Both impression fraud and click fraud are significant problems in the mobile advertising industry, costing advertisers billions of dollars every year. To combat these problems, marketers use MMPs like Airbridge to identify and block fraudulent traffic.