Latest News
How Mobile Ad Fraud Drains In-App Budgets — and How to Avoid It
Mobile ad fraud is a hidden drain on your app marketing spend. Traffy, a performance marketing agency specializing in mobile anti-fraud, shares strategies to safeguard your ad budget and maximize ROI.
Most advertisers don’t lose money because of weak creatives or poor funnels — they lose it because a significant portion of their in-app traffic is invalid from the very start.
The Scale of the Problem
In Q3 2025, mobile apps experienced approximately 33% IVT (Invalid Traffic), meaning roughly one-third of traffic was fraudulent or invalid. (Source: Pixalate — Q3 2025 Global Ad Fraud Benchmark Report).
These numbers aren’t just statistics — they reveal that a huge portion of advertising budgets is being spent not on real users, but on fake traffic, fabricated clicks, and bot-generated installs.
Depending on traffic sources and buying models, particularly in programmatic (DSP) environments, fraud levels can vary dramatically. In some cases, IVT may be as low as 5%, while in others it can exceed 50% where controls are weak. This means many advertisers are making campaign decisions based on data that was never real to begin with.
What IVT Really Means — And Why It’s Critical
IVT isn’t just “low-quality traffic.” It is traffic that can never convert into a real user or paying customer.
It includes:
- Bots and automated scripts
- Click farms and device emulators
- Hidden impressions and background clicks
- Fabricated installs and in-app events
When 33% of traffic is IVT, every third dollar spent is paying for actions that will never generate revenue. Multiple studies show IVT in mobile advertising frequently exceeds 20–30%, and can be even higher for certain platforms, GEOs, or traffic types. Fraud is not an edge case — it is a structural risk in in-app advertising.
Why Mobile Ad Fraud Is Getting Smarter
Despite widespread adoption of anti-fraud systems, techniques continue to evolve. Basic bot filtering is no longer enough. Common schemes include:
- Bot Installs & Bot Activity: Automated installs and simulated engagement mimicking real users.
- Click Injection / Click Hijacking: Apps intercept last clicks before installation and claim attribution.
- Click Spamming / Click Flooding: Mass fake clicks inflate activity signals and steal organic installs.
- Device Farms & Real Device Spoofing: Hundreds of devices generate fake installs and events, rotating identifiers.
- SDK Spoofing & Postback Fraud: Fake install or in-app event data sent directly to attribution systems.
- In-App Event Spoofing: Fabricated postbacks make reports appear normal, but no real users exist behind them.
How to Avoid Wasting Your In-App Budget
Fraud prevention is systematic verification and disciplined traffic management, not paranoia.
- Use an MMP With Advanced Anti-Fraud Protection
- Rely on trusted mobile measurement partners (Adjust, AppsFlyer).
- Enable built-in fraud detection — attribution without fraud protection is incomplete.
- Analyze CTIT (Click-to-Install Time)
- Extremely short CTIT → potential click injection
- Extremely long/uniform CTIT → potential click flooding
- Unnaturally consistent timing → possible automation
- Monitor CTCT (Click-to-Click Time)
- Short CTCT (<100 ms) detects script bots and click farms
- Check New Device Rate
- If 90%+ of devices are “new,” this indicates device farms resetting IDFA/GAID
- Track Assisted Installs
- High percentage of assists → organic hijacking (Click Flooding)
- Monitor Behavioral Anomalies
- Retention curves: bots may fabricate “perfect” retention
- Payments and cards: bots use virtual cards or $0 balances to bypass checks
- Key metrics: rebill rate, actual payment success
- Additional metrics: event depth, session duration, purchase timing, LTV distribution
- Work With Blacklists and Whitelists
- Build placement-level blacklists
- Identify reliable publishers via whitelists
- Audit sub-publishers continuously
- Remove suspicious sources early
- Check Infrastructure Signals
- Datacenter IPs (AWS, DigitalOcean, Hetzner) → block 100%
- Geo mismatch (click from India, install from US) → fraud
How to Win Against Fraud
With up to 33% of in-app traffic being invalid, advertisers aren’t just underperforming — they’re paying for illusions. Fraud can masquerade as growth, but the real advantage comes from knowing which traffic is real.
At Traffy, we specialize in mobile anti-fraud and help advertisers ensure every dollar reaches real users. A comprehensive fraud audit or traffic safeguard can protect ROI, reduce wasted spend, and provide predictable, scalable growth.
The post How Mobile Ad Fraud Drains In-App Budgets — and How to Avoid It appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Affiliates
PartnerMatrix teams with Broadway Platform to roll out Agent System to PAM clients
PartnerMatrix, part of the EveryMatrix Group, has signed an exclusive collaboration with Broadway Platform, a Player Account Management platform (PAM) developed by SPRIBE, to expand distribution of the PartnerMatrix Agent System. The agreement was announced Monday, June 29th, 2026, in Malta.
Under the deal, Broadway Platform will introduce the PartnerMatrix Agent System to its clients as a tool to manage and scale offline traffic operations alongside digital affiliate activity.
PartnerMatrix said the Agent System is designed to give operators visibility and control over agent performance, commission structures and player activity within a connected environment, supporting online and offline traffic management across multiple territories.
Vahe Khalatyan, Head of PartnerMatrix, said: “We are pleased to launch this collaboration with Broadway and expand the reach of our Agent System to a wider network of operators.
“Operators increasingly need stronger control across both online and offline acquisition channels, and this collaboration helps bring that capability to more partners globally.”
Giorgi Samkharadze, Director at Broadway Platform, said: “We’re constantly looking for ways to help our partners grow more efficiently across diverse markets. The PartnerMatrix Agent System offers operators a powerful framework for managing both affiliate and agent-driven acquisition within a single ecosystem.
“As our global footprint continues to expand, particularly across emerging markets where offline traffic remains highly influential, we see significant value in providing our partners with access to scalable solutions that support sustainable growth.”
The post PartnerMatrix teams with Broadway Platform to roll out Agent System to PAM clients appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
affiliate marketing
Intelitics adds generative AI visual reporting tool for iGaming marketers
Intelitics has launched Actionable Intelligence, a generative AI reporting feature designed to let iGaming and sports betting marketing teams create custom data visualisations on demand using plain-language questions.
The company said the tool builds on Intelitics’ existing reporting stack used to track partner performance, campaign ROI and acquisition metrics. Instead of commissioning a new report or writing code, users can query the same dataset and receive a chart or visualisation in response.
Use cases cited by Intelitics include comparing partner performance by traffic source, drilling into individual campaigns, and breaking down player value by acquisition channel. Intelitics said the feature interprets iGaming and affiliate marketing terms including partners, offers, traffic sources, player value, acquisition channels, GGR and NGR, without requiring users to translate requests into SQL.
“The data our customers need to make better decisions has always been inside Intelitics,” said Allan Stone, founder and CEO of Intelitics. “Actionable Intelligence makes it accessible on their terms, with no technical skills required and no waiting for a report to be built. We designed it so that everyone on a marketing team, not just the analysts, can explore their data and act on what they find – and we built it to understand the way iGaming and affiliate marketers actually talk about their business, from partners and offers to GGR and NGR.”
On data governance, Intelitics said Actionable Intelligence runs within each customer’s Intelitics environment. The company stated that customer data is not pooled across accounts, shared with third parties, or used to train any model outside that environment, and that each visualisation is generated only from the customer’s own Intelitics data. The feature is available to Intelitics customers.
The post Intelitics adds generative AI visual reporting tool for iGaming marketers appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Brand Partnerships
Stake names UFC flyweight contender Tracy Cortez as global ambassador
Stake has appointed UFC women’s flyweight contender Tracy Cortez as a global ambassador, with the partnership set to begin in June 2026.
The company said the deal adds Cortez—currently ranked No. 8 at women’s flyweight—to its growing group of UFC athletes and ambassadors. Stake also listed Alex Pereira, Max Holloway, Merab Dvalishvili, Caio Borralho and Alexandre Pantoja among its current UFC ambassadors.
Cortez holds a 12-3 record, according to Stake, and rose through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019. The company also referenced an 11-fight win streak during her career.
Akhil Sarin, Chief Marketing Officer at Stake, said: “Tracy Cortez is a phenomenal athlete, who we’re really excited to be partnering with in this new ambassadorial role. She has proven herself to be a real contender in the UFC flyweight division already, and as she comes into her prime, Stake is proud to support her journey.
“Tracy’s personality and competitive spirit is something which aligns with our values at Stake – she’s fun, the fans love her, and we’re looking forward to bringing a valuable partnership to MMA fans.”
Stake ambassador Tracy Cortez added: “Partnering with Stake feels like the perfect fit for this chapter of my career. This is a brand at the cutting edge of sports and entertainment, and they value the same grit and authenticity that I bring to every fight.
“I’m ready to engage with my supporters in a whole new way and take this journey to the next level together.”
The post Stake names UFC flyweight contender Tracy Cortez as global ambassador appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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