Learn how Pixalate flags Made for Advertising (MFA) websites, mobile and CTV apps, how you can avoid MFA to protect your advertising spend.
What products does Pixalate provide to fight MFA?
Pixalate's solutions comprise of
- MFA Data Feeds: Offer real-time access to comprehensive lists for MFA mobile apps, CTV apps, and domains. Segmented by medium- and high-risk markers, the data feeds offer flexibility to implement variable risk mitigation strategies.
- MFA Insights for the Media Ratings Terminal: Pixalate's ad supply chain intelligence tool, the Media Ratings Terminal (MRT), now includes in-depth MFA insights, accessible in the UI and via API calls.
What are the benefits of Pixalate's MFA detection and blocking solutions
Key Benefits:
- Multi-platform support: Pixalate harnesses its global ad impression data pool to fuel its MFA detection methodology, and cover not only websites but also mobile apps and CTV apps.
- Data-driven methodology: Employing advanced AI, Pixalate fine-tunes a range of MFA indicators, including the ad-to-content ratio, ad refresh rate, and the origins of paid and social traffic, among others. This approach extends far beyond traditional web crawlers, resulting in an industry-first multi-platform MFA identification solution
- Granular insights: Another aspect that sets Pixalate apart is its commitment to transparency, providing clients with granular access to the underlying data points. This transparency empowers clients to calibrate their MFA risk, allowing for a nuanced approach rather than a binary blocking method.
How does Pixalate's MFA detection/designation methodology work?
Pixalate bases its MFA designations on actual observed traffic from its global data pool, and does not rely solely on crawling since crawlers can be easily gamed.
MFA Websites Methodology
- 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
MFA CTV App Methodology
- 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 minute
- 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
MFA Mobile App Methodology
- 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 minute
- 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
Pixalate analyses these traffic signals, and flags sites and apps as likely MFA when any of the factors fall outside the baselines calculated by analyzing quantiles for all ad impressions per website or app.
The overall high / medium "MFA Risk" designations for websites (as seen in the data feed and in the MRT) are marked as follows:
- Medium MFA Risk - if ONE of the MFA factors applies (High Social traffic or High Paid Traffic Rate or High Ad density or High Ad Load Rate)
- High MFA Risk - if more than one of the MFA factors applies (High Social traffic or High Paid Traffic Rate) OR Extremely High Ad density or Extremely High Ad Load Rate)
* note - the thresholds for high or extremely high in the above are calculated by looking at the overall global traffic pool and looking for truly aberrant behavior.
Get in touch with Pixalate to learn more about Made for Advertising.
Read Pixalate's latest research reports on Made for Advertising.
Related articles about Made for Advertising
- Using the MRT to identify MFA traffic
- Using the MFA Datafeeds to block MFA Traffic
If you have any further questions or feedback, please contact us via your Customer Success Manager, or by emailing us at support@pixalate.com