---
title: "Pixalate Week in Review: March 16 - 20, 2020"
description: Pixalate reviews this week's news in the programmatic ad fraud space. Find the most critical ad tech and privacy news from 16-20 March 2020.
---

[Pixalate Blog ](https://www.pixalate.com/blog)

# [Pixalate Week in Review: March 16 - 20, 2020](https://www.pixalate.com/blog/programmatic-ad-fraud-news-march-16-2020)

 Written by [Pixalate](https://www.pixalate.com/blog/author/pixalate) | Mar 20, 2020 8:32:39 PM

This week's review of ad fraud and quality in the digital advertising space.

### **1: Over 182k apps now have app-ads.txt**

According to Pixalate's data, [over 182,000 apps had app-ads.txt files](https://www.pixalate.com/apps-with-ads-txt-2019) at the end of 2019, up from 3,308 at the end of Q1 2019 (when the initiative [first launched](https://iabtechlab.com/blog/final-version-of-app-ads-txt-ready-for-adoption-to-fight-inventory-fraud-in-mobile-apps-and-ott/)).

Here are the total number of apps with app-ads.txt files – on iOS and Android combined — as of the last day of each quarter:

- **Q1 2019: **3,308 apps
- **Q2 2019: **9,154 apps
- **Q3 2019: **111,875 apps
- **Q4 2019: **182,832 apps

### **2. Juniper Research names Pixalate 2020 Gold winner for 'Best Antifraud Solution in Advertising'**

Pixalate has been named a winner in Juniper Research's 2020 Future Digital Awards. Pixalate has earned the Gold award for Best Anti-Fraud Solution in Advertising. Read more in Yahoo.

### **3. Digiday: Coronavirus leads to 'Overzealous block lists'**

"Coronavirus is shining a light on a long-running problem with overzealous block lists," wrote [Digiday](https://digiday.com/media/im-frustrated-treat-stories-publishers-find-coronavirus-keyword-blocking-drop-ad-demand-homepage-placements/) in a piece examining the impact on digital advertising. "[E]ntire news-site homepages are also inadvertently being blocked" by adding COVID-19-related terms to keyword blocklists.

### **4. eMarketer podcast: How COVID-19 might impact ad spending**

### ****

In this [eMarketer](https://content-na1.emarketer.com/podcast-how-covid-19-might-impact-ad-spending) podcast, "senior analyst Jasmine Enberg, forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom and principal analyst Nicole Perrin discuss how COVID-19 could affect ad spending."

### **5. Navigating new mediums — and avoiding ad fraud**

"As new digital channels continue to emerge, such as over-the-top (OTT) and mobile in-app, along with higher demand and lower supply, brands need to become less 'Mad Men' and more 'Math Men,'" reads an [AdAge](https://adage.com/article/industry-insights/how-marketers-can-navigate-media-spend-reach-and-engage-game/2244671) op-ed. "They need to lean into analytics and data science insights for attribution support and return-on-investment insights ... [including] a laser focus on reducing ad fraud."

[View full post](https://www.pixalate.com/blog/programmatic-ad-fraud-news-march-16-2020)

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