Installed by millions, 85 adware apps were removed from the Google Play Store after security researchers found they contained a common strain of adware. The apps masqueraded as games and TV remote controllers. (ZDNet)
Upstream details the investigation into a pre-installed weather app that was sending data to China, signing users up for pricey services and committing ad fraud on Alcatel Android smartphones. The investigation was sparked after Secure-D encountered a high number of transaction attempts coming from the phones in Brazil and Malaysia. You can read The Wall Street Journal coverage here. (Upstream)
In recent years, buyers have flocked to private marketplaces to avoid the fraud, hidden fees and low-quality ads they saw in the open marketplace. Agencies created a network of auction-based private auctions to protect their clients from these threats. Now the trend is reversing. (AdExchanger)
Tim Koschella, former AppLift CEO, is launching a company called Kayzen, which is positioning itself as a self-serve DSP for performance advertisers. It's designed to help app marketers bring their programmatic ad buying in-house. (AdExchanger)
Following the trend seen in the United States, programmatic advertising now accounts for the majority of digital display spending in France, Germany and the UK. This article outlines what programmatic ad spending looks like in each country, with forecasts through 2020. (eMarketer)
During CES in Las Vegas Apple took out a giant outdoor ad on the side of a Marriott hotel showing the outline of an iPhone and the slogan "What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone." At the bottom of the poster is a URL pointing to Apple's privacy policies. The move is a direct attack on Android rivals since the ad plays on fears that the Google-operated mobile system leaks people's data, be that to governments or hackers. (Business Insider)