InMobi - Fake clicks galore. (19)
Just ran (another) unsuccessful campaign on InMobi.. No conversions, on a campaign that had a few on JumpTap, and TapIt.. plus HUNDREDS more clicks, like 300% more clicks than either other provider named.. which seemed fishy to me..
So I dig a bit further, my tracking shows multiple clicks from same IPs.. Like 14 from one IP (and lots of 8's 7's etc).. and tons of multiple clicks from IPs in the same range.. Like XXX.XXX.XX.21, XXX.XXX.XX.22, XXX.XXX.XX.23 an so on.. One range has 7 clicks from each IP in the block for 20 IPs.. lol..
This is the 7th campaign I've ran with them. I've tested two campaigns that have been profitable elsewhere.. Nothing.. I've ran and tested different GEOs.. Nothing..
Can't get my head round what they do, but to summarise, shit platform, shit traffic..
IN MY OPINION..
End rant, end thread/.
DS
On mobile sometimes IPs aren't unique for each visitor from what I know, so don't rant too early 
This is extremely common on mobile, especially if the clickers are from the same area. On some of my mobile campaigns, especially those targeting a specific geo region, 80% of my conversions had almost the same ip address.
That being said, there is sometimes click fraud, no doubt about it, but that's definitely not always the case. I know it can be frustrating when a campaign doesn't take off, but blaming the traffic source for sending you fraud traffic is not a path that will lead to success. Also not every campaign is going to translate directly from one seemingly similar source to another. Take TJ and exoclick for example.
I understand that some clicks may have same Ips if going through same mobile networks or something, I've seen instances of this on the others mentioned.. but not to this extent. Also, I should have added, the multiple clicks are within seconds, and milliseconds of each other..
Originally Posted by dynamicsoul
To call it "fake clicks" is just plain wrong.
They are not a perfect network by any stretch of the imagination but they have a TON of traffic. If you got to inMobi with $500 in your pocket then you will be disappointed. You need to fish much deeper here.
Hmm.. I think I'll stick with the other sauces then. Saying as they "seem" real, and convert "real".
I think your time-related stats are more revealing. Lots of clicks from similar IPs/IP ranges is pretty normal. Lots of clicks from the same IP/range at the same time with literally seconds between them? Gotta be more than someone accidentally double tapping a link. I'd forward such data to the traffic source and ask them to investigate. Could be something like a redirect loop constantly counting clicks but not sending the person onward to the intended destination?
This of course assuming you were getting charged for all the clicks your tracking has detected.
You can track clickID's and match that against IP's if you are concerned about "clickfraud".
From my experience, when you run on big reputable ad networks you are much better off spending your energy on optimizing your campaigns than trying to figure out if your traffic is fraudulent or not.
If you are running outside the USA and CA then looking at IP ranges for the legitimacy of traffic is foolish.
Originally Posted by deondup
and to further his well made point....I have found that between dif mobile sources no 2 perform the same....I have had great camps on one only to scale to another to have it be utter crap....
i've had 100% roi xxx days on inmobi but i've definitely had some wacky traffic from them before. definitely check all your bases before throwing in the towel w them. also are you tracking pubids?
tracking all stuff I can.. I'll delve a bit deeper, but coming from a web dev and seo background of over a decade (I can usually smell a rat), it seems odd.. I must say though, that this hasn't happened on every campaign I ran with them, mainly this last one. Looking shady to me..
Originally Posted by deondup
and as said above.. It's maybe not so much that all blocks of IPs have multiple clicks, but the fact that all IPs in the block have SAME number of clicks and all happening within milliseconds and seconds of each other.
Was going to say "Ditto with the other guys on traffic coming from the same IP - that doesn't mean anything.", but all happening withing seconds of each other is def odd.
also....
I agree that inmobi's traffic is often pretty fishy. Even when I've had the campaigns IP-targeted down to ranges which convert on other sources, inmobi's ROI is almost always 1/2 of other networks. They do have lots of volume though so if you can put up with that common disparity, then I guess it's worth it. That being said though, I know guys who love that network. Maybe their system is just slow though so they're better in more-developed countries. Unsure.
If only people spent as much time optimizing their mobile as they do trying to fight click discrepancy/click fraud, then we'd all be making more money.
Dude, they dont have fake traffic, just the quality is not as good as some sources. Run your own offer or even email submit and you can see for yourself.
InMobi enjoys sending bursts of fake clicks (from Indian geos, etc, definitely not the targetted geo), which can be easily verified by checking out the source of random referrers. You'll sometimes see 1000x InMobi auto-loading iframes. .. They really don't care, it seems.
The burst of "fake clicks" you see from Indian geo's is when your ads are getting reviewed. They crawl your links to check for malware ec. Its also done periodically to ensure no one does a bait-n-switch to malware. You DO NOT get charged for this traffic which is why you will see over reporting on clicks.
If you think they are serving you "fake" traffic, just go somewhere else. There are MANY good mobile networks.
From my experience inMobi is great and they have scale in almost every geo but they can be tough to work with and they are not perfect at all.
99% it's not fake traffic as everyone has said, InMobi is way to big and reputable to play any games like that. I've never seen anything on my end dodgy from them.
I don't think anyone truly thinks inmobi is frauding - just that something is very different w/ some of their traffic compared to networks w/ the same referring urls. Either some of their traffic partners aren't that good, their targeting has some issues, or by the time the traffic they're getting has been brokered, then brokered, (then brokered?) the latency is so bad it's not going to convert for much.
Not an issue in more developed countries (b/c people make their network work) & not an issue if you can IP target developing nations, but if a person is trying to get a foothold chasing broadly-targeted campaigns in Oman or Mongolia, they may have a tough time w/ inmobi.
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