Three in four clicks on desktop half page ads are fraudulent, but rates reduce with screen size

An overview of click fraud rates among programmatic ads by size and platform.

Data from Pixalate show that click fraud is prevalent online. During the first half of 2017, as many as three in four clicks on programmatically purchased 300 x 600 ‘half page’ desktop ads (a unit Google describes as one of the fastest growing sizes) are fraudulent. The average across all formats is one in three (32%).

Data show that click fraud reduces with screen size. Of all measured clicks on the smallest ad (320 x 50) on the smallest screen (mobile), only 7.2% were fraudulent. This was ten times lower than the rate for the largest ad on the...

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