Pixalate Launches “Made For Advertising” (MFA) Detection and Blocking Technology for Websites, Connected TV & Mobile Apps

New feature delivers continuous monitoring and rating of 100+ million web domains, CTV and mobile apps assigning a high, medium, or low MFA risk assessment

Pixalate, the global market-leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform, today announced the launch of  “Made for Advertising” (MFA) technology to detect and block MFA websites, CTV and mobile apps. Pixalate’s MFA solution rates websites, CTV and mobile apps with a high, medium, or low MFA risk; this new feature is available in Beta across the Pixalate product suite.

Pixalate’s MFA detection technology models historical open programmatic transaction data across all apps, pages and URLs; an October 2023 MFA Pixalate assessment deemed over 15K MFA websites and apps high risk. MFA websites and apps can feature intrusive advertising techniques like pop-up ads, auto-play videos, or ads restricting access to content, often resulting in a poor advertising-to-attention ratio.

With the release of this new feature, Pixalate addresses the nuances of MFA in CTV and mobile apps by incorporating metrics beyond ad refresh and ad density to include the age of the app, invalid traffic (IVT) rates, user ratings, and popularity rankings. Pixalate uses statistical techniques such as Univariate/Multivariate Descriptive and Gaussian curve analysis to assign high, medium, or low MFA risk to websites, CTV, and mobile apps.

Pixalate’s MFA risk assessment technology uses the following data points, enabling ad buyers to adjust their MFA risk threshold:

Connected TV App MFA Risk Definition and Criteria  

• MFA Risk: Pixalate’s assessment of the risk (High, Medium or Low) of the CTV app being deemed MFA
  • Ad Refresh Rate: Number of ad impressions observed per device, per hour
  • Age:  Age of the app on the App Store
  • IVT: IVT% of the App across regions
  • Popularity Score: Pixalate’s popularity score for the app
  • Reviews: Number of Reviews

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Mobile App MFA Risk Definition and Criteria 

• MFA Risk: Pixalate’s assessment of the risk (High, Medium or Low) of the mobile app being deemed MFA
  • Ad Refresh Rate: Number of ad impressions observed per device per hour
  • Age:  Age of the app on the App Store
  • IVT: IVT% of the app across regions
  • Popularity: Pixalate’s popularity score for the app
  • Reviews: Number of Reviews

Website MFA Risk Definition and Criteria

• MFA Risk: Pixalate’s assessment of the risk (High, Med or Low) of the website being deemed MFA
  • Ad Density Rate: Number of ad placements observed per device, per minute
  • Ad Refresh Rate: Number of ad impressions observed per device, per minute
  • Paid Traffic Rate: Volume of traffic sourced via paid (ad) sources
  • Social Traffic Rate: Volume of traffic sourced via social media

Examples of Made for Advertising in Websites, CTV and Mobile Apps: 

MFA Mobile App Example: MFA observed by Pixalate in mobile app shows ads blocking the apps’ content, promoting unqualified clicks from users therefore impeding the implied app functionality.

MFA CTV App Example: Pixalate observed a MFA CTV app presenting small thumbnail-sized video ads instead of full-screen ads. The videos run back-to-back, muted, and constantly in a corner of the screen overlaid on the intended CTV content.

MFA Website Example: The example MFA website met Pixalate’s criteria for MFA based on the number of ad placements, ad refresh rate, and traffic source types.

MFA Detection and Real-time Blocking:

• MFA Blocking Technology: Distinct Data Feeds for MFA mobile apps, CTV apps, and websites
  • Segmented by medium- and high-risk
  • Available via API or FTP for high performance and low latency
• MFA Risk Assessment in the Media Ratings Terminal: Pixalate’s ad supply chain intelligence tool, the Media Ratings Terminal (MRT), now includes MFA risk assessments
• MFA Reports in Analytics Dashboard: Pixalate’s post-bid analytics dashboard will provide clients insight into the impact of MFA websites and apps on their first-party traffic
• MFA insights via APIs: The Enrichment API within Pixalate’s self-service Ad Trust and Safety API suite now includes MFA insights associated with the websites, mobile and CTV apps. Insights include the overall MFA Risk rating and the details impacting MFA risk such as Ad Density, Ad Refresh Rate, App Age, Paid Traffic, etc.

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