If I try to optimize for download volume, that's all I get - bots after bots. Can rack up thousands of downloads for <10 cents per download without any impact on how many users actually use or rate the app.
I found that getting a good ROI required setting higher price targets and optimizing for in-app actions. That's really hard to do well and not very reliable, but it helped.
How does a bot know whether you've optimized for download volume or in-app actions? I don't understand how a bot would know to download the app to fulfill your requirement?
Furthermore, what is the incentive to write and operate these bots? Genuinely curious. The only party with an incentive to do this would be Google, no?
Google has a strong incentive to let them.
If you've ever taken a look at the number of conversions fb ads provides vs google ads, you'd know this.
Edit: that being said, this does not seem to hold for Facebook, and I don't have a good reason why.
Google's advertising business is built on trust. The moment there are a few scandals involving fake/robot ad clicks, big advertisers will remove their ad campaigns.
So while it is risky, not sure how they could be caught. I don’t think they are running click fraud bots, but it’s hard to quantify how hard they work to stop them.
A friend of mine estimated that 1/3 of ad spend is click fraud but it’s just in the wash because it’s hard to stop.
So if bots are more likely to click download, and bots have similarities, bots see more ads.
You don't have to be old -- we still use FTP all the time at my job. Of course, whenever we have a say we use some secure variant, but you don't always have a say (no matter how much you yell, grumble, sermonize about the dangers of insecure tech, etc).
Of course, you probably meant you feel old because "FTP" didn't immediately register to you as "Free To Play". Well, I can't help you there, because by that standard I guess I'm pretty old too.
:-D
I'm assuming you use display for this pricing? If so build a white list of acceptable sites or avoid display. Running open network is always waste of cash in y experience, especially mobile devices.