Articles and Research

Google bans major Chinese app developer CooTek from Play Store for continued use of disruptive ads

Google is banning CooTek, a publicly traded Chinese app developer, from its Play store and ad platforms after evidence was presented that its apps continued to bombard users with disruptive ads even after the company claimed it had stopped the behavior. (BuzzFeed News)

Uber refiles ad fraud lawsuit, includes ad networks and exchanges

Ride-sharing service Uber has filed a lawsuit alleging more than 100 companies committed “tens of millions of dollars” in mobile advertising fraud, including ad networks and publishers that are mostly unnamed. (MediaPost)

Is Amazon’s Sizmek acquisition really a threat to Google?

Following Amazon's acquisition of Sizmek's ad server and dynamic creative optimization platform, the company is now in a better position to compete with Google for advertiser dollars. AdExchanger evaluates the strategic possibilities of Amazon's new tech acquisition. (AdExchanger)

Fraudlogix Q1 Ad Fraud Report: Global ad fraud up but North American levels down

Fraudlogix released its Q1 2019 Ad Fraud Report this week. Data showed that the overall percentage of fraudulent traffic has increased from Q4 2018 to 14.7%. However, in North America the percentage dropped from the previous quarter. Insights on fraud levels by device type, browser, and operating system are also included. (Fraudlogix)

International malvertiser extradited from the Netherlands to face hacking charges in New Jersey

A Ukrainian national, Oleksii Ivanov, was charged with participating in a years-long, international scheme to infect computers with malware through online advertisements (i.e., malvertising) and appeared in Newark federal court after being extradited from the Netherlands. The indictment stems from a scheme operated between 2013 and 2018 and included using fake entities to purchase online ads from advertising companies and ad server platforms. Ivanov and others attempted to profit by selling access to the network of devices they had infected with malware. (US Department of Justice)

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Zeta Global Buys Sizmek DSP And Rocket Fuel DMP Assets For $36 Million

Sizmek will sell its data management platform, which it acquired with Rocket Fuel, and its demand-side platform to the marketing technology cloud Zeta Global in a deal worth up to $36 million. (AdExchanger)

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Industry reacts to Sizmek's bankruptcy and tries to pinpoint what went wrong

Sizmek's bankruptcy filing has shaken digital ad executives, who regarded the company's ad server business as an important contender to Google's. Digiday interviews several industry executives to see where they think the company went wrong. Meanwhile, Sizmek says it's still open, but other ad servers are plotting to scoop up some of its business. On Tuesday the company confirmed between 30 and 80 layoffs. (Digiday, AdExchanger, and AdWeek)

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IAB releases app-ads.txt

The IAB has released the final version of the app-ads.txt, the in-app equivalent of the ads.txt initiative. The specification lets mobile and OTT app publishers indicate which ad tech vendors are authorized to sell or resell their ad inventory. Programmatic ad buyers can check these files to ensure sellers that claim to offer an app’s inventory are authorized to do so. PubMatic will begin enforcing app-ads.txt for its app publishers May 1. (IAB Tech Lab)

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New adware found in 200 apps on Google Play

In the latest mobile ad fraud scheme, security researchers found mobile adware hidden in hundreds of Android apps, which were downloaded more than 150 million times from Google Play. The malware masqueraded as an ad-serving platform, and unbeknownst to the app developers, would open a backdoor to install additional malware. Once installed, the malware runs though lists of web addresses in the background, serving ads to generate revenue. (TechCrunch)

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Amazon's Ad Business May Be Growing Faster Than Thought

Amazon's ad business is again outpacing earlier projections. eMarketer recently increased its estimates for Amazon's U.S. ad revenue for both past and future years. The increase is due partly to third-party data indicating that advertising provides more of Amazon's revenue than was previously thought. (The Wall Street Journal)