Table Of Contents
Executive Summary
The State Of Mobile Advertising For
Enterprise Marketers
Mobile Ad Fraud Is A Top Problem For
Every Marketer
Only 1 in 5 Enterprise Marketers Feel They
Are Able To Systematically Monitor and
Prevent Fraud
Mobile Ad Fraud Is Evolving So Rapidly That
Most Enterprise Marketers Fail To Identify
The Costliest Types
Marketers Want To Be Proactive Against
Fraud But Lack The Visibility To Take Action
Marketers With Successful Fraud Protection
Solutions Have A Competitive Edge And Are
Seeing Better Mobile Ad Performance
Key Recommendations
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Project Director:
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Market Impact Consultant
Contributing Research:
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research group
Executive Summary
As consumers rapidly shift their digital interactions to connected devices,
mobile is becoming the most important channel for businesses to
communicate with their customers. Yet, the explosion of mobile ad fraud
has largely fown under the radar, as enterprise marketers acknowledge
that large portions of their budgets are subject to fraud because they
lack the necessary insights and tools needed to combat the rising threat.
Digitally-savvy fraudsters not only apply techniques that elude marketers,
but also fashion new strategies to stay one step ahead. Only one in fve
advertisers said they’re able to systematically combat fraud with the right
tools and expertise.
In September 2017 AppsFlyer commissioned Forrester Consulting to
evaluate the business impact of the rise of mobile ad fraud, specifcally as it
relates to the cost of doing business in the mobile ecosystem for enterprise
sized marketers. Forrester conducted an online survey with 250 marketers
whose companies spend at least $1 million dollars a month on digital
advertising. We found that mobile continues its rise as a highly valuable
channel for the enterprise advertiser, with marketing executives shifting
more budgets and increasing their focus on mobile apps. This trend comes
despite marketers acknowledging that mobile advertising is fraught with
fraud, and that few have the right strategies in place to combat it. The
study yielded several fndings:
KEY FINDINGS
Mobile is an increasingly important channel for enterprise
marketers. 70% of the enterprise marketers surveyed for this report are
increasing their budgets for mobile advertising over the next 12 months.
Yet despite the increase in resources dedicated to mobile,
marketers acknowledge that large portions of their ad budgets
are exposed and/or lost to fraud. Fraud is currently accepted by the
market as a cost of doing business, 69% of marketers cite that
at least
20% of their budgets are exposed to fraud on mobile web and 71% for
in-app advertising.
Marketers cite their main challenges as being a lack of visibility into
their data, a lack of knowledge about programmatic media buying
which is compounded by bad actors rapidly coming up with new
and more sophisticated ways to perpetuate fraud. 43% of marketers
in the report cite that the amount of fraud they are subject to has
increased over the last 12 months.
Currently only 19% of enterprise marketers claim to have
systematic fraud prevention in place. As a result of the prevalence
of fraud in mobile advertising 92% of marketers who responded to the
survey list combating mobile fraud as a high or critical priority for the
next 12 months.
Systematic fraud prevention is a competitive advantage for mobile
marketers. For the minority of enterprise advertisers that do have
systematic fraud prevention currently, benefts include improved ROI,
better campaign insights, easier optimization, and increased user
engagement.
1|Mobile Fraud: Marketers’ Massive Hidden Threat
The State Of Mobile Advertising For
Enterprise Marketers
Across the globe, mobile usage continues its rapid growth fueled by shifting
media consumption habits that already make mobile the dominant digital
medium. People in every country are buying more and more advanced
mobile devices while millions of smartphone apps try to capitalize on this
growth. To put it simply, mobile is becoming a major channel for businesses
to communicate with their customers. What’s more, we know that 85%
of the time that consumers now spend with connected devices happens
within applications (apps) on mobile phones.
At the same time, mobile phones can provide highly personalized
experiences that allow marketers to engage consumers around the clock
on an individual basis, and gain direct insights on customers’ behaviors
and preferences as it pertains to their business. As a result, mobile
devices have been a key focus of customer engagement strategies, and
app development an important element of business’ digital transformation
roadmap.
It is therefore not surprising that marketers are realigning budgets and
priorities to capitalize on this opportunity and tap into apps to get in front of
their audiences and increase customer loyalty.
To get their app onto the prime real estate of a customers’ mobile device
and cut through the clutter of over 5 million apps, enterprise marketers are
increasingly relying on advertising to generate awareness and ultimately
new users – and the industry is rapidly growing to support this. Over the
next 12 months, 70% of frms that spent over $1 million per month in
digital advertising in 2017 said mobile ad spend budgets will increase in the
coming year, and 39% of companies that spent over $5 million per month
on digital advertising plan on increasing their budgets by more than 30%.
The survey revealed the top three critical or high priority objectives around
mobile advertising is to grow revenues (87%), promote the company’s apps
(85%) and create new leads (82%) over the next 12 months (see Figure 1).
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND KNOWLEDGE ARE PRIMARY
CHALLENGES FACING ENTERPRISE MARKETERS
Mobile devices are fragmented platforms, where marketers have to plan
ad campaigns across mobile web, apps, social networks and different
operating systems. Today, the market is split between primarily two
competing operating systems that function differently in terms of data
capture and data sharing; Android captures 78% of the market globally and
Apple’s iOS has 21% of the market share.1
A lot of that time is spent on social media apps, which are expected to
attract nearly 40% of mobile advertising spend in 2018.2 At the same time,
social networks are notorious for operating as ‘Walled Gardens’ which follow
their own rules when it comes to reporting on usage data and makes it very
diffcult to measure cross platform campaigns that have touchpoints in
social. When visibility is lost, the door is opened for fraudsters to operate in
between the cracks of the dat