Our recent series of blog posts on click fraud in programmatic has established that click fraud is a growing problem across devices — smartphones, tablets, desktops, and event Connected TVs/OTT — and channels, including video and display.
But within those devices and channels, which ad units are fraudsters targeting most often? Pixalate examined a few of the most common ad units bought and sold via programmatic on desktops, smartphones, and tablets to answer the question.
When it comes to some of the most popular ad unit sizes on smartphone devices, fraudsters are clearly drawn to one size in particular: the 480x320 unit.
Interestingly, click fraud rates for the 320x250 and 320x50 ad units were roughly 2x higher on tablets compared to smartphones. However, the click fraud rates on the 320x480 and 480x320 units were roughly equal on both mobile devices.
For three of the most popular desktop ad unit sizes traded via programmatic, over half of the clicks they receive are fraudulent.
Click fraud rates across the most popular desktop ad unit sizes were significantly higher than click fraud rates on the most popular smartphone and tablet ad units. Overall, click fraud is a little higher on desktops than it is on mobile devices, but as noted above, it is a growing problem across all devices and screens.