Pixalate Survey Finds Reduction in Ad Fraud on Updated Apple iOS 16 Devices

Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for connected TV (CTV) and mobile advertising, examined consumer adoption rates surrounding Apple’s iOS 16, which debuted on September 16, 2022.* 

Pixalate examined open programmatic ad sales on iOS devices from September 1 - 28, 2022 to estimate OS version adoption.

Key Takeaways:

• iOS 16 adoption is 23% , three weeks post-launch, according to Pixalate’s estimates.
• Users on newer versions of iOS (iOS 15.5+) were most likely to upgrade to iOS 16. About 1-in-4 iOS 15.5+ users upgraded to the new OS, according to Pixalate’s data, while only 1-in-9 iOS 14 users upgraded.
• Ad fraud rates on devices updated to iOS 16 were 16.6% lower compared to older versions of iOS (14.8% vs. 17.8%).

Examining iOS 16 adoption

The graph below shows that users on newer versions of iOS (15.5+) were more likely to upgrade to iOS 16 in overall traffic distribution.

Pixalate also observed some traffic from iOS 15.7 (released at the same time as iOS 16) devices, but the number appears to be relatively low, indicating that most users opted to go with the major upgrade. 

Ad Fraud (or Invalid Traffic, IVT”) Trends

In the time period studied, Pixalate estimates that iOS 16 devices had an average ad fraud (IVT) rate of 14.8%, which was lower than all other versions (17.8% average).

Additionally, according to Pixalate’s data, older OS versions also generally have a higher relative share of invalid traffic. For example, iOS 14 devices appear to generate 6.5% of the total IVT seen on iOS, even though they make up 5.5% of all iOS traffic.

Visit the full study to learn how analysing traffic patterns help Pixalate identify ad fraud (IVT).