---
title: How the most popular mobile app ad sizes are attacked by fraudsters
description: In this post, Pixalate reveals which mobile in-app ad sizes have the highest ad fraud (IVT) rates. Download the full Q2 2018 Programmatic Quality Report.
image: https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/mobile-app-ad-sizes-takeaways.jpg
---

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# How the most popular mobile app ad sizes are attacked by fraudsters

 Written by [Pixalate](https://www.pixalate.com/blog/author/pixalate)

 Aug 15, 2018 12:00:00 PM

In this post, Pixalate reveals which mobile in-app ad sizes have the highest ad fraud (IVT) rates across display and video advertising. For more insight, download the full [Q2 2018 Programmatic Quality Report](https://info.pixalate.com/q2-2018-programmatic-traffic-quality-report).

**Key takeaways:**

- The 300x250 video ad size has an invalid traffic (IVT) rate of 17.6% in-app on smartphones
- The 300x50 display ad unit has an IVT rate of 12.2%
- The 320x480 video ad size has an ad fraud rate of 17.2%, while the display IVT rate on the same unit is 8.8%

 

### **The 300x250 ad unit has an in-app display IVT rate of 12.5%**

The 300x250 display ad unit within smartphone apps has an IVT rate of 12.5%, according to Pixalate’s research in North America from April 2018.

 

- The most popular in-app ad sizes have an IVT rate over 12%

- 480x320 interstitial ad size has highest IVT rate

### **Fraudsters are still taking advantage of the 300x250 ‘video’ ad unit**

The 300x250 video ad unit has become one of the most popular among advertisers. It has also become one of the most commonly attacked ad sizes by bad intenders, which has caused some, like OpenX, [to ban the “video” unit from the ecosystem](https://blog.pixalate.com/in-banner-video-ad-unit-programmatic-invalid-traffic-mediapost-openx-pixalate). It had an in-app IVT rate of 17.6% in the time period we investigated.

 

- Fraudsters are cramming video ads into the 320x50 unit

- Mobile in-app interstitial video ads have high IVT rates

### **Get more insights in our Q2 2018 Programmatic Quality Report**

Pixalate analyzed billions of programmatic ad transactions to update you on the current state of invalid traffic (IVT) and ad fraud in the marketplace. To learn more about our methodology and insights, download your copy of the [Q2 2018 Programmatic Quality Report](https://info.pixalate.com/q2-2018-programmatic-traffic-quality-report) here.

[![ads-txt-2017-trends-report](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2364596/f41c6183-ecbd-4d7a-9e0d-cb658a0c57b0.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2364596/f41c6183-ecbd-4d7a-9e0d-cb658a0c57b0)

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# Disclaimer

 Disclaimer: The content of this page reflects Pixalate’s opinions with respect to the factors that Pixalate believes can be useful to the digital media industry. Any proprietary data shared is grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating. Any references to outside sources should not be construed as endorsements. Pixalate’s opinions are just that - opinion, not facts or guarantees.

 Per the MRC, “'Fraud' is not intended to represent fraud as defined in various laws, statutes and ordinances or as conventionally used in U.S. Court or other legal proceedings, but rather a custom definition strictly for advertising measurement purposes. Also per the MRC, “‘Invalid Traffic’ is defined generally as traffic that does not meet certain ad serving quality or completeness criteria, or otherwise does not represent legitimate ad traffic that should be included in measurement counts. Among the reasons why ad traffic may be deemed invalid is it is a result of non-human traffic (spiders, bots, etc.), or activity designed to produce fraudulent traffic.”

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