98% of likely child-directed apps with ads (as measured by Pixalate) share IP address and/or GPS coordinates in the open programmatic ad bid stream, according to Pixalate’s data; Child-directed apps are 54% more likely than non-child-directed apps to share both IP address and GPS coordinates with advertisers
LONDON, July 1, 2024 – Pixalate, the global market-leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform, today released the Q1 2024 Google vs. Apple COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) Risk Scorecard Report to examine the state of children’s online privacy across apps available for download in the Google and Apple app stores.
Pixalate’s data science team analyzed 5.1 million mobile apps available for download across the Google Play Store and Apple App Stores in Q1 2024, and 50+ billion global open programmatic advertising impressions from Q1 2024, to compile this research.
Pixalate found 429k+ likely child-directed apps between the Google Play and Apple App stores (-1.6% YoY decrease in the number of these apps). Nearly half (47%) of these likely child-directed apps request access to personal information via permissions such as camera, microphone, or location.
Access the full Q1 2024 Google vs. Apple COPPA Risk Scorecard Report below. You will also receive the list of the top 200 most popular apps (top 100 from each store) that request access to personal information via permissions and have an app-ads.txt file, including whether GPS coordinates and/or IP address were shared in the ad bid stream, according to Pixalate’s data.
Pixalate uses automated processing derived from a combination of signals to determine if an app is likely to be child-directed, including the app’s category, sub-category, content rating, and contextual signals (specifically, child-related keywords in app’s title or the app’s description). Pixalate also leverages manual app review by educators on Pixalate’s Trust & Safety Advisory Board, who make assessments of apps based on the child-directed factors outlined in the COPPA Rule. See our full methodology for more information.
About Pixalate
Pixalate is the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising. We work 24/7 to guard your reputation and grow your media value. Pixalate offers the only system of coordinated solutions across display, app, video, and CTV for better detection and elimination of ad fraud. Pixalate is an MRC-accredited service for the detection and filtration of sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) across desktop and mobile web, mobile in-app, and CTV advertising. www.pixalate.com
Disclaimer
The content of this press release, and the Google vs. Apple COPPA Risk Scorecard Report (the “Report”), reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Pixalate’s opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees; and neither this press release nor the Report are intended to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but instead, to report findings and apparent trends pertaining to mobile apps from the Google and Apple app stores. It is important to note, that the mere fact that an app appears to be directed to children (e.g., data subjects under 13 years of age, as defined by the COPPA Rule) does not mean that any such app, or its operator, is failing to comply with the COPPA Rule. Pixalate calculates estimated programmatic ad spend through proprietary statistical models that incorporate programmatic monthly active users (MAU), the average session duration per user, the average CPM for the category of a given app, and ad density.
