According to a recent report by Robust Fundamentals, with a user base of 568 million gamers and over 9.5 billion gaming app downloads in 2023, India is the largest gaming market in the world. Opportunity is rife, and not least for bad actors and fraud players.
The advances in Generative AI and its multimedia and multimodal usage, as recently put on display by the likes of Google and OpenAI, show how capabilities are only accelerating, which is both scary and exciting for multiple industries, including gaming.
However, as the founder of an independent agency told exchange4media, as gaming experiences a meteoric rise in India, capturing the hearts and screens of millions, it's also drawing the attention of those with less savoury intentions.
“Fraudsters exploit the surge in mobile gaming traffic, employing tactics like install hijacking and click flooding. This drains advertisers' budgets, distorts marketing data, and wastes resources. Generative AI amplifies the threat, enabling sophisticated fraud schemes. Advertisers face significant risks, including budget depletion and reputational damage,” they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Samir Asher, Founder and COO, Tonic Worldwide, agrees that ad fraud in gaming is on the rise, but more importantly, it is leading to a spike in incidents of click flooding and fake in-app activity. “Casual gamers who aren't technologically aware are lured into downloading video games and applications with files that contain malware and in-game ads. These in-game ads compromise the players' virtual security by collecting sensitive data from their devices and potentially even cause their devices to malfunction.”
India is the largest mobile gaming market in the world, with the overall size of the Indian gaming industry set to more than double to 7.5 billion USD in 2028 from around 3 billion USD in 2023, and even major gaming console and PC device manufacturers are paying attention to urban India’s growing appetite, and disposable income for high-end gaming systems, even as gaming adjacent activities like streaming and vlogging are finding audiences (and advertisers looking out for them).
Rohit Agarwal, Founder and Director, Alpha Zegus, says we've seen instances where unknown trollers would take livestream clips of gaming content creators and modify them using AI to spread hate speech among the community.
“We have also seen trollers use AI to bully women creators by morphing their images or to mass-report social accounts. Ad fraud is not only limited to identity theft but also spreads wrong messages and tarnishes peoples' reputations. There's no separate gaming solution, only one that will be implemented universally.”
Advertisers should be worried because click flooding from ads displayed in these applications and games can lead to financial and reputational losses against the algorithm. They can avoid this issue by partnering with reliable and verified mobile ad networks and actively monitoring the data on their ad campaigns.
Experts all agree that gaming platforms and industry stakeholders should work together to incorporate more intense moderation across platforms.
“By improving the standards of moderation on mobile gaming platforms, they can ensure that fraudulent advertisers aren't allowed to display their advertisements. They can also program an improved algorithm for gaming platforms and applications which can detect more signs of fraudulent advertisements. Investing in advanced anti-fraud mechanisms and fraud-detection systems is always advisable for advertisers and industry stakeholders,” says Asher.
Devam "Dev" Vyas, Vice President, Esports at Gods Reign, an Indian esports organization, says that by implementing robust solutions such as standardized verification processes and by fostering transparency and accountability across the industry, industry stakeholders can effectively combat ad fraud and maintain the integrity of the gaming ecosystem.
