---
title: Pixalate Releases Q3 2018 Ad Fraud Report
description: Pixalate's Q3 2018 Ad Fraud Report is a comprehensive analysis of programmatic traffic quality and the state of invalid traffic (IVT) across desktop, mobile web, and mobile in-app advertising.
image: https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/Pixalate%20-%20Q3%202018%20Ad%20Fraud%20Report%20(dragged)%202.png
---

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# Pixalate Releases Q3 2018 Ad Fraud Report

 Written by [Tyler Loechner](https://www.pixalate.com/blog/author/tyler-loechner)

 Jan 17, 2019 12:23:42 PM

Pixalate has released the [Q3 2018 Ad Fraud Report](https://pixal.at/2RRjHNv), a comprehensive analysis of programmatic traffic quality and the state of invalid traffic (IVT) across desktop, mobile web, and mobile in-app advertising.

### Q3 2018 Ad Fraud Report key takeaways:

[![Pixalate-Q3-2018-Ad-Fraud-Report-takeaways](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/Pixalate-Q3-2018-Ad-Fraud-Report-takeaways.png?width=600&name=Pixalate-Q3-2018-Ad-Fraud-Report-takeaways.png)](https://pixal.at/2RRjHNv)

- The **United States has the fourth-highest ad fraud rate in the world**; in Q3 2018, 17% of programmatic ads (across all devices and ad types) served in the United States were invalid 
    - Only India (34%), Indonesia (30%), and Australia (20%) had higher IVT rates among countries in the top 15 in terms of programmatic ad volume
- **Mobile in-app remains the riskiest**. Global mobile in-app ad fraud rates were 17% in Q3 2018, while some subsets — such as smartphone in-app video (22%) — had even higher IVT rates

- For video advertising, **smartphone in-app (22%) and tablet in-app (19%)** were the two riskiest environments

### Inside the Q3 2018 Ad Fraud Report you’ll find:

- Ad fraud by country
- Ad fraud by device type
- Display vs. video
- Tablets vs. smartphones
- Android vs. iOS
- Ad fraud by mobile app categories

[Download the report](https://pixal.at/2RRjHNv):

[![Download the Report](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2364596/b84a1eea-37aa-4565-9ac6-5d080818b6e6.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2364596/b84a1eea-37aa-4565-9ac6-5d080818b6e6)

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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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