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Propeller Ads - Bot traffic

Sephrata

Active Member
I thought I might post this here to show my recent experience with Propeller Ads and bot traffic.

Now bot traffic is part of media buying. If we identify it, we have to try and block it or the source of where it comes from.

Networks should also take action to block and ban people found abusing their sites with bot traffic.

I left a campaign (on SmartCPA) running with Propeller only to find one 'zone' dominated my visits. So I analyse the data in Voluum and see that that entire zone is getting traffic from one ASN, an internet data centre. When I look at the user agents, it's quite clearly bot/fraudulent traffic that I've been receiving:

JGqrLsR.png


Now most networks are fairly good dealing with fraudulent traffic when it is identified. As advertisers, we usually get refunded or compensation paid for the traffic and the publisher should get banned.

I had an interesting experience with Propeller (on the most part, their network is quite good and has relatively low bot traffic). The first answer I get is that, if I am unhappy with the quality of the traffic then I should block that zone. Ok, yes I should but there are two problems here. Firstly, you cannot block a zone after starting the testing phase of SmartCPA. Secondly, you should immediately ask the advertiser for the records of the traffic so it can be investigated.

So, I escalate the issue to their support with full records of the fraudulent traffic. I was expecting a completely different answer, but I get told this time that "You campaign has such a high frequency (5 ads per 1 hour) , which leads such results" and "if you do not like some zone id , feel free to exclude them". Not exactly impressive answers!

For a data centre in a tiny village (population less than 500 people) in the Czech Republic to be sending over 20,000 visits from mobile devices in a 48 hour period, with not a single device using Czech or Slovak as the system language, is strange to say the least.

When I look at the zone in question here, this is first one I block from every single campaign I run. It usually dominates the visits in most geos and you never get a single conversion from it. Unfortunately (and this is an error by me), I did not add this zone to the block list before running the SmartCPA campaign. However, it does raise very serious question marks as to how Propeller deal with reports of fraudulent traffic and why this zone has not been flagged up before by them.
 
i think when it comes to pop traffic that's normal :).
you should always bot test your campaign :)
 
Always bot test any and all campaign traffic sources. It's always the first thing I do. It is just a part of doing business for us, but some traffic sources are not blocking many of these themselves because many Newbie publishers don't know enough to scrub the bots and get refunds. It creates additional revenue for the traffic sources, in that regard.
 
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Always bot test any and all campaign traffic sources. It's always the first thing I do. It is just a part of doing business for us, but some traffic sources are not blocking many of these themselves because many Newbie publishers don't know enough to scrub the bots and get refunds. It creates additional revenue for the traffic sources, in that regard.

I completely agree. I am just really surprised how @propeller ads has reacted to this.

This is the latest response I've had (having sent more data and given a fairly thorough explanation about why it is fradulent traffic):

Our specialist has checked the zone and it does not cause suspicion. We would suggest you to exclude that zone if you do not like it quality.

I am shocked how Propeller Ads are handling this (and beginning to ask myself why). The user agents are faked and all the traffic is coming out of a data centre. The fact that not a single click (of the 20,000 odd visits) has a browser or system language in Czech should ring quite serious alarm bells, particularly when the traffic is all coming from a small village in the middle of nowhere.
 
I completely agree. I am just really surprised how @propeller ads has reacted to this.

This is the latest response I've had (having sent more data and given a fairly thorough explanation about why it is fradulent traffic):

Our specialist has checked the zone and it does not cause suspicion. We would suggest you to exclude that zone if you do not like it quality.

I am shocked how Propeller Ads are handling this (and beginning to ask myself why). The user agents are faked and all the traffic is coming out of a data centre. The fact that not a single click (of the 20,000 odd visits) has a browser or system language in Czech should ring quite serious alarm bells, particularly when the traffic is all coming from a small village in the middle of nowhere.
I had a similar experience with PropellerAds. I decided to move my campaigns to AdCash. Also I've noticed in AdMobiSpy that AdCash won the battle for most ads in the last 12 months:

2mHEolO.png


So if you're looking for an alternative with scaling opportunity, I suggest you check them out. (After you get your refund from PropellerAds of course ;))
 
I had a similar experience with PropellerAds. I decided to move my campaigns to AdCash. Also I've noticed in AdMobiSpy that AdCash won the battle for most ads in the last 12 months:

So if you're looking for an alternative with scaling opportunity, I suggest you check them out. (After you get your refund from PropellerAds of course ;))

I'm using AdCash more and more these days also :)

I've now been engaged with Propeller in conversation for over a week, sent 4 emails with a huge amount of data and they are "still investigating" (and still telling me if I unhappy with a zone, I can block it...). It really makes me wonder whether this is publisher or network fraud.
 
I'm using AdCash more and more these days also :)

I've now been engaged with Propeller in conversation for over a week, sent 4 emails with a huge amount of data and they are "still investigating" (and still telling me if I unhappy with a zone, I can block it...). It really makes me wonder whether this is publisher or network fraud.
Yeah probably should give them the benefit of the doubt, before it's clear what's up. But personally I think it's their responsibility even if it's the publisher is fault. Good luck and please update us here.
 
propeller ads is full of bots they know it. its part of their methodology i guess
there are two types of discrepancies between unique impressions and total impressions.
a small site can generate 100 unique impressions but 10,000 total impressions and also
you need to check your counted total impressions and propeller total impressions you will see a difference there also!
 
I thought I might post this here to show my recent experience with Propeller Ads and bot traffic.

Now bot traffic is part of media buying. If we identify it, we have to try and block it or the source of where it comes from.

Networks should also take action to block and ban people found abusing their sites with bot traffic.

I left a campaign (on SmartCPA) running with Propeller only to find one 'zone' dominated my visits. So I analyse the data in Voluum and see that that entire zone is getting traffic from one ASN, an internet data centre. When I look at the user agents, it's quite clearly bot/fraudulent traffic that I've been receiving:

JGqrLsR.png


Now most networks are fairly good dealing with fraudulent traffic when it is identified. As advertisers, we usually get refunded or compensation paid for the traffic and the publisher should get banned.

I had an interesting experience with Propeller (on the most part, their network is quite good and has relatively low bot traffic). The first answer I get is that, if I am unhappy with the quality of the traffic then I should block that zone. Ok, yes I should but there are two problems here. Firstly, you cannot block a zone after starting the testing phase of SmartCPA. Secondly, you should immediately ask the advertiser for the records of the traffic so it can be investigated.

So, I escalate the issue to their support with full records of the fraudulent traffic. I was expecting a completely different answer, but I get told this time that "You campaign has such a high frequency (5 ads per 1 hour) , which leads such results" and "if you do not like some zone id , feel free to exclude them". Not exactly impressive answers!

For a data centre in a tiny village (population less than 500 people) in the Czech Republic to be sending over 20,000 visits from mobile devices in a 48 hour period, with not a single device using Czech or Slovak as the system language, is strange to say the least.

When I look at the zone in question here, this is first one I block from every single campaign I run. It usually dominates the visits in most geos and you never get a single conversion from it. Unfortunately (and this is an error by me), I did not add this zone to the block list before running the SmartCPA campaign. However, it does raise very serious question marks as to how Propeller deal with reports of fraudulent traffic and why this zone has not been flagged up before by them.
Hello Separata,

Thanks for sharing such a case of fraudulent with community to get aware.
 
Well it seems like they want to sweep this away, this is their latest response:

We analyzed your case and info you provided us with.
As we can see, you have a CPA campaign, that means you are paying for conversions only.
And considering this fact, the add impressions don't matter.
Our system indicated this impression according to your targeting. There is no discrepancy noticed.

The fact that they are providing these kind of responses is a strong clue that they tolerate or could be implicit in fake traffic on their network.

I am tired of writing back to them, it gets nowhere and their responses just get worse and worse.

Anyone using Propeller Ads should be aware of this.
 
Well it seems like they want to sweep this away, this is their latest response:



The fact that they are providing these kind of responses is a strong clue that they tolerate or could be implicit in fake traffic on their network.

I am tired of writing back to them, it gets nowhere and their responses just get worse and worse.

Anyone using Propeller Ads should be aware of this.

Not just propeller ads, I have issue with Mobicow traffic as well. When I send Mike my suspicious that the traffic fraudulent or bot, i get taiji replies saying that they will look into this but never get back to me. I guess it is pretty common for traffic seller to do this. I was thinking of using wingoads but realize that they have no inbuild tracking system for advertisers. How am I suppose to know the site ID that is sending me fake traffics to exclude them?

I guess most pop ad networks are just selling fake traffics.
 
Mobicow is known for low quality traffic and even getting people banned as a result.

As a media buyer, you need to be able to identify bad traffic. This is where a tracker comes in. You need to block the offending zones/sites/IPs etc.

There is a thread on a different forum where a guy running a 'big' site with Propeller explains how he's generating a lot of fraudulent traffic through some rotating proxy services. This is consistent with what I found with Propeller and my attempts to get them to do something about it fell on deaf ears.
 
True. I am facing same problem. They dont show how they send traffic. Anybody has experience with propeller media too? one day when we speak over chat. they give 1-2 conversation. next day it will be 0. if we complian for traffic they spend very less for few days. then they eat all budget. they dont show how they send traiffc. after 1000 clicks 0 conversation with best quality landing page? they make fool.
 
Not just propeller ads, I have issue with Mobicow traffic as well. When I send Mike my suspicious that the traffic fraudulent or bot, i get taiji replies saying that they will look into this but never get back to me. I guess it is pretty common for traffic seller to do this. I was thinking of using wingoads but realize that they have no inbuild tracking system for advertisers. How am I suppose to know the site ID that is sending me fake traffics to exclude them?

Hello, you can add your parameter to your smart link and then the possibility of tracking will appear. If you want to know more details ping on Skype: helen3251113234 or live:iren_245, thank you :)
 
Propeller has good volume and good prices, but quality of traffic is not best... For example Adsterra has better quality, or Mydumedia.com... my manager's skype live:m.zlenko
 
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