---
title: Pixalate's Q2 2024 Mobile App Ad Fraud Trends by IAB App Category
description: Pixalate's Q2 2024 Global IAB Categories IVT Trends report analyzes the invalid traffic (IVT) rates across the top ten IAB categories by region, based on the share of mobile app global open programmatic ad spend.
image: https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/IAB%20Categories%20Mobile%20IVT%20Trends%20-%20Q2%202024%20email%20and%20blog%20cover.png
---

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# Pixalate Releases Q2 2024 Mobile App Ad Fraud Trends by IAB App Category Reports: $693 Million Intended for ‘Video Gaming’ Apps Spent on IVT Instead

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

 Sep 23, 2024 2:00:00 PM

*Pixalate’s data science team analyzed over 60 billion open programmatic ad transactions across 7.3 million mobile apps in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store during Q2 2024 to compile this global research, including breakdowns by region (North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM); In North America, “Education” apps had the highest IVT rate (30%) among the top 10 most popular app category (based on estimated open programmatic ad spend)*

**LONDON, September 23, 2024 --**[Pixalate](https://www.pixalate.com/), the global market-leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform, today released the [Global Mobile App IVT Trends: IAB Categories for Open Programmatic Advertising Report](https://www.pixalate.com/iab-categories-ivt-trends-global).

Pixalate also released [North America](https://www.pixalate.com/iab-categories-ivt-trends-north-america), [Asia-Pacific (APAC)](https://www.pixalate.com/iab-categories-ivt-trends-apac), [Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)](https://www.pixalate.com/iab-categories-ivt-trends-emea), and [Latin America (LATAM)](https://www.pixalate.com/iab-categories-ivt-trends-latam) versions of the report.

The reports analyze each region’s top 10 IAB app categories by estimated open programmatic ad spend, invalid traffic (IVT) including ad fraud by app category, and the most prevalent types of IVT detected and identified within IAB app categories. Learn more about the types of [invalid traffic detection](https://www.pixalate.com/knowledgebase/reported-invalid-traffic-ivt-types).

## **Key Findings:**

## **Global:**

- **“Video Gaming” **IAB mobile app category had a global IVT (including ad fraud) rate of 17%, resulting in **$693M** ad spend lost in this category alone in Q2 2024

- **“Technology** **& Computing”** IAB mobile app category had the highest IVT rate **(36%)** among the top 10 IAB app categories based on estimated open programmatic ad spend

- “**Hobbies & Interests”** **(31%)**, and **“Technology & Computing”** **(36%) **both had IVT rates higher than the global average (20%)

- “**Display Impression Fraud”** was the most common IVT type among the top 10 IAB app categories, accounting for **17% **of all global IVT

## **Regional Breakdowns:**

## **North America (18% overall regional IVT rate)**:

- **“Education”** had the highest IVT rate **(30%) **among the top 10 North American categories
- **“Video Gaming”** (top regional ad spend share at **62%**) experienced a **17% **IVT rate
- **“Display Impression Fraud”** had the highest regional share of invalid traffic **(18%)****  
  **

## **Latin America (22% overall regional IVT rate)**:

- **“Technology & Computing”** had the highest IVT rate **(34%) **among the top 10 LATAM categories
- **“Video Gaming”** (top regional ad spend share at **62%**) experienced a** 16% **IVT rate
- **“Display Impression Fraud”** had the highest regional share of invalid traffic **(31%)**

## **Asia Pacific (APAC) (33% overall regional IVT rate)**:

- **“Hobbies & Interests”** had the highest regional IVT rate **(45%)** among the top 10 APAC categories 
- **“Video Gaming”** (top region ad spend share at **53%**) experienced a **23%** IVT rate
- **“Display Impression Fraud”** had the highest regional share of IVT **(7%)**

## **Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) (18% overall regional IVT rate):**

- **“Business and Finance”** had the highest IVT rate **(36%)** among the top 10 EMEA categories
- **“Video Gaming”** (with a top regional ad spend share of **73%**) had a lower IVT rate in EMEA **(15%)** than in other regions
- **“Display Impression Fraud” **had the highest regional share of invalid traffic** (29%)**

Pixalate’s data science team analyzed over 60 billion open programmatic ad transactions across 7.3 million mobile apps in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store (including apps deemed delisted by Pixalate) in Q2 2024 to compile the research in this series. Pixalate's datasets consist predominantly of buy-side open auction programmatic traffic sources.

Download the reports for a complete analysis and review of each region’s top 10 IAB app categories by estimated open programmatic ad spend and the top IVT types within each category:

[![Global](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2364596/6d1f0465-3191-4f71-98ab-6a74c935b303.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2364596/6d1f0465-3191-4f71-98ab-6a74c935b303)    [![North America](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2364596/7b041f35-f946-4f42-b44e-3bb2dac111c2.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2364596/7b041f35-f946-4f42-b44e-3bb2dac111c2)    [![APAC](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2364596/fb50dabc-b6ad-4574-8b9d-2b0bd42af620.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2364596/fb50dabc-b6ad-4574-8b9d-2b0bd42af620)

[![LATAM](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2364596/75b2ef5a-fdb2-4a3d-827c-cc04a8b99070.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2364596/75b2ef5a-fdb2-4a3d-827c-cc04a8b99070)    [![EMEA](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2364596/392c95ee-fc91-4343-8dbb-a627de348e1b.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2364596/392c95ee-fc91-4343-8dbb-a627de348e1b)

**About Pixalate**

Pixalate is a global market-leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform. Pixalate works 24/7 to guard your reputation and grow your media value by offering the only system of coordinated solutions across display, app, video, and CTV for the detection and elimination of ad fraud. Pixalate is an MRC-accredited service for the detection and filtration of sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) across desktop and mobile web, mobile in-app, and CTV advertising. [www.pixalate.com](https://www.pixalate.com/)

**Disclaimer**

*The content of this press release, and the Mobile App IVT Trends: IAB Categories Reports, reflect Pixalate’s opinions with respect to the factors that Pixalate believes can be useful to the digital media industry. Any 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, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees. Pixalate is sharing this data not to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but, instead, to report findings and trends pertaining to the time period studied.*

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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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