TrafficGuard Saved a NASDAQ-Listed Game Developer $70k Monthly

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Background

In preparation for the launch of a new title, this NASDAQ-listed game developer understood that if they were adequately protected from ad fraud, they would be able to work with more traffic sources, scale their campaigns faster, and give their launch campaigns the strongest start.

After auditing their traffic, we found:

• $70k was being wasted on invalid traffic per month
• 25% invalid click rate

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Solution

The client chose to use TrafficGuard’s ad fraud prevention across their mobile app advertising campaigns after an extensive evaluation process which saw TrafficGuard compared to other mobile fraud prevention solutions, as well as fraud prevention offered by their mobile measurement partner (MMP).

TrafficGuard did not identify the most invalid traffic from the vendors evaluated, but rather it demonstrated the most reliable fraud prevention. Other solutions evaluated provided little transparency into which transactions were invalidated and the reasons for invalidation. The client chose TrafficGuard for the in-depth and comprehensive analysis of their problem, the clear and defendable detection, and the effectiveness of real-time fraud prevention that would ultimately help them to confidently scale.

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Findings

Fraud was wasting up to $70k a month

Using TrafficGuard, the client discovered they were wasting up to $70k a month on ad fraud. 25% of click traffic was invalidated by TrafficGuard which when prevented, would reduce the chance for misattribution by the MMP. 10% of installs were invalidated by TrafficGuard, of which 4 in 5 were misattributed and 1 in 5 were fake installs by sophisticated bots and app install farms.

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Independent verification allowed more accurate attribution

Removing invalid clicks from eligibility for attribution automatically reduces the opportunity for misattribution by the MMP. In addition to that, TrafficGuard identified data quality issues that the MMP had been ignoring – missing data, incorrect dimensions set that would have been precluding some traffic from attribution, and confusing performance data. With visibility, data quality issues could be resolved, reducing both false-positives and false-negatives.

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The most reliable fraud prevention

Armed with complete transparency of their traffic quality, the client was able to see how their advertising was still exposed, despite their MMP's fraud prevention. Over 200 installs a day had also originated from Known Host IPs, i.e. servers, not people. Blocking installs from servers is the most trivial and presumed line of defence that most advertisers would expect to be mitigated by the MMP. This points to the importance of verification and not presuming this basic step is being taken. Granular visibility showed the client reasons for every invalidated engagement.

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