Pixalate Reports Rise in Mobile App Inventory Resold via Arbitrage in Q3 2026
· 15h ago · Originally reported by Pixalate
Pixalate's latest Mobile Seller Trust Index shows that 16.4% of global authorized mobile app ad inventory was resold through arbitrage in Q3 2026, up from 15.2% previously. The report also ranks sellers by their risk of arbitrage and invalid traffic, with Google AdExchange leading as the top 'direct' seller in the US.
Why it matters
Understanding which sellers have higher risks of arbitrage and ad fraud helps advertisers and publishers make safer, more effective choices in mobile advertising.
Explain it like I’m new here
It's like checking which stores are most likely to sell you real products instead of knockoffs, so you know where to shop safely.
Terms in this story
Publisher
A publisher is any owner of content or a digital property, such as a website, app, streaming service, podcast or screen network, that earns money by selling ad space to advertisers.
Ad inventory
Ad inventory is the total amount of advertising space a publisher has available to sell, usually counted in impressions across its ad slots, pages, apps or screens.
Traffic arbitrage
Traffic arbitrage is buying cheap visitors, often through native, social or search ads, and sending them to pages loaded with ads that earn more than the traffic cost.
Invalid traffic (IVT)
Invalid traffic (IVT) is any impression, click or visit not coming from a real person with a genuine chance to see the ad, whether caused by bots, fraud or error.
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