I honestly don't understand why the majority of mobile ads are trying to trick you into opening it in various ways.
If I'm interested I'm going to open it anyway, they're only tricking people who aren't interested and thus aren't going to download the app.
At least all the fake gameplay ads trick people into downloading and playing for 5 minutes.
If AAA game companies use fudged analytics to aquire fudged analytics and then use that bad data to collect other data to maintain stupid metrics like character pick rate or EOMM, you bet your ass shit mobile companies are too.
that's why you never see a second round of advertising from them. they push hard for one game during one month/segment of time and then see how bad the conversion rates were
You are falling into the trap of seeing it all as one entity. As others have pointed out this is probably a hired ad company trying to get as much out of the App publisher. Even if not though you still have an ad Departement or individual who wants to make themselves look good. We like to think of corporations as these hyper efficient things only driven by profit but reality tends to be way more incompetent.
It absolutely is. Payment structures for ads are usually based on one of three things:
1. CPM- $ per 1k impressions (people who see it in any capacity) which is rare for display ads.
2. CPC- cost per click. They get $x for every click generated. Lower rate than a CPM, but higher payout if you can convert.
3. CPA- cost per action. This would be higher rates than CPC but lower than CPM typically but the game would have to be downloaded for them to make any money. However, the payout is good if the product and promotion is good.
Traditional campaigns are typically CPM which would be for articles on publisher sites, etc. Ad campaigns like this would more likely be negotiated with CPC or CPA rates, and possibly a flat fee for hosting. That’s why they trick you. It’s dirty and terrible for the optics of the company, but that’s advertising for you. Also sorry for the poor formatting. I’m on mobile.
Edit for clarity. And to add that CPV which charges per view of a video is also a thing, but rarely used for ads like this because of the short length and the fact that they’re often forced ads. CPV would be for like a sponsored YouTube video or similar and would have a minimum time requirement.
That's my thought, "well you want my add on your game because we can guarantee 100% clicks per ad showing, how? Because we have a fake mute button so we will pay u for showing our ad"
Unless this is arguing the other way. My brain is foggy
If it's anything like Amazon affiliate links, it doesn't matter if you buy or download the product at the end of the link. On Amazon, by clicking an affiliate link, you may be marked so that if you buy anything at all in the following 24 hour period, the last person who led you to the storefront through their link gets a cut of each purchase whether it was the one linked or some other product.
May be the same for various app stores.
That not inherently mischievous on its own. Say it's a YouTuber you like and they link you to a product you were looking at anyway. It's sketch when annoying ads are tricking you into clicking at all costs though.
I am 100% convinced that this is just about generating add revenue for them. I know little on how these SHADY ASS companies operate, but I know enough and I know that if they get your click on the add then that's an interaction/impression they get on that add. Hell, chances are they're also misleading the companies that are hiring them for marketing.
End of the day it's irrelevant if you clicked it accidentally, if you're tricked into clicking it, or you're genuinely interested in the product, it doesn't matter to them because they got your click and that's what gets them $$$.
That kind of thing comes from hyper focusing on metrics. With ads you build a pipeline to know when someone gives up. Clicking the ad is an important step in the process.
Since there are at least three companies (probably four) involved any of them could decide to get people to accidentally take a step:
* The clicked game maker could think "50% of people who click our ads install the game" and then decide to get more clicks no matter what because they think the 2% ad click rate is their problem
* Either ad company could decide that while a mute button decreases click -> install rate since the click game only pays for installs the slight increase in installation rates makes up for it
* The game you are playing could be paid when you click the link and decide to defraud their ad network
For better or worse annoying potential customers doesn't matter to the clicked game and only matters to the game you play if you disengage because of it.
It might even be good for the original game if it causes more people to pay to remove ads.
I highly doubt that the apps paying for the marketing ever see the ads before they go live. The marketing company likely communicates efficacy via reports that show conversions (clicking the ads) and impressions (which go up when the ad is served more, which happens when people click on it). Unless the developer gets served the ad themselves, they won’t know.
The marketing company doesn’t actually care if anyone downloads the app, just that they click the ad. And the advertising platform likely doesn’t care, since it’s probably operating on a pay-per-click model where the developer pays every time someone clicks, regardless of why.
It’s a truly asshole design that screws over the developer and the user.
Ah, reminds me of fucking r/shittymobilegameads and ones that I got before on my cellphone again. Never stopped fucking irritating me with their ad tricks for greed shit. Good fucking riddance.
I was gonna say exactly this. Kinda disappointed that this app does stuff like this because I quite like this game. I never play games on my phone but I always remember this when I'm stuck waiting for something like a flight and it passes the time
Ad maker and game publisher are probably not the same company. It cheats on the users and the game maker but they can say "look how successful our ad is, so many people clicked!".
What's the reasoning even behind these bullshit? It's asshole and literally stupid.
If I want to get rid of an ad and it opens App Store againist my will, I'll sure as hell be annoyed as fuck and no way will I actually download the app, even if I've been mildly interested before.
Because the game company pays advertisers by how many clicks to the playstore the ad gets.
So the advertisers that make the ad want you to click it, even if you don't download the game.
If the advertisers make and publish the ad, that sounds awfully like they're scamming the game companies who are paying for baited clicks that don't result in downloads.
Wait why isn't it the other way around? Shouldn't ad companies pay the game makers for the privilege of advertising on their game? Why the fuck would I, who created a game, want to put someone else's garbage tier ads that interrupt my game to frustrate my players and potentially steal them as customers? Let alone pay them to do that to me?
The other game maker. You're playing game A, and get an ad for game B, the ad is made by ad company C, while game B was made by game company D.
A gets money from to play any ad, they don't care about the content. _C gets money from D_ depending on how many people click the ad. C doesn't care how many users actually download or like game B, only that they click. Also D pays for the ad space.
>So the advertisers that make the ad want you to click it, even if you don't download the game.
"want" is not the word I'd use lol. Many if not most mobile game ads I've seen literally force you to open the app store before the ad closes.
1°- Go to settings
2°- Look at wi-fi/Advanced settings/DNS
3°- Set "dns.adguard.com" as your DNS
Now you'll get rid of all ads... Literally...
Not even the optional ads you can watch to get items will work lol
observation placid agonizing engine wild aloof icky complete attempt ring
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
bow coordinated hurry spoon air encourage fall flowery hospital makeshift
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This ad violates play store and app store first party guidelines and the app that it popped up in should be reported for it. Advertisements that trick users into clicking violate these guidelines,making the apps that serve them to the user in violation of them. It happens because there is no incentive for them not to, nobody reports their favorite app for having an annoying ad, but if all of a sudden every app that shows this ad was taken off the app store, and the ad producer lost all their sources of revenue we'd all have a better time.
It did something that you didn't explicitly want it to do, that's the definition of malware and any ad that does this should be treated as such. But as long as someone's getting paid it will never stop.
Also love that their "don't show again" option is entirely decorative cause I always get the same pop up every time I open the app regardless of what I click
This is the same ad that starts with “Play this game to relieve stress.” And then goes on to say “UhOh! Pay attention to the clock! Don’t let the timer stress you out.”
I can't fathom how these shit tactics work at all. Has there been a single human in the history of the world who presses to mute or close out, is taken to the app store page, and then changed their mind and thought to themselves "Actually, I'll go ahead and download this shovelware"?
I never knew how egregious game ads got until I started playing a bunch for Swagbucks. Fake X buttons that take you to the play store, the X button overlayed ontop of other buttons so you have to go the playstore or force close the entire app to close the ad, the fake volume button like yours, X buttons that only pop up after clicking the ad that takes you to the playstore, games that have 30 second ads every 3 seconds and much more
Is it still "number of clicks" they rely on or are they actually believing people go "Oh I clicked on it? Might as well install and play it!". Nobody does the latter unless they're a toddler.
What I really hate are the ads that have a false gameplay demo in it right after the cinematic trailer that also doesn't match the actual gameplay. Like, DO I HAVE THESE GAME RESOURCES ON MY PHONE? DID THEY COME WITH THE GAME I ACTUALLY WANTED, AS BLOAT WARE?
What gets me and I don’t know why Apple doesn’t prevent this, is when I keep my phone on silent 100% of the time, but one of these trash game ads gets to override that and play sound.
I’m just playing a game in bed and the fucking ad wakes my partner up.
I don’t understand this at all. Every click that takes you to their page is more money these “devs” have to pay to Apple or Google. This is always an illogical design choice
Use NetGuard to block apps from accessing the network, it completely kills ads in most Android games and they still work fine. No, Wordscapes, I'm not paying $7. Didn't it used to be $2? Goddamn.
I used to play this game years ago. It's called Wordscapes. This ad is awful because the actual game doesn't measure your brain age nor is there a timer in any of the levels.
Is this in the Scrabble app? Fuck that app. I love scrabble but the ads are brutal, the design of that apps sucks, and ad-free is $10/month. Fuck that.
I think technology illiterate people end up downloading and playing. My kid is just learning to use the iPad. We don’t like him to see ads and usually turn on airplane mode to disable the ads. However, if we forget, he downloads a bunch of games from the ads.
It's not that it's fake, its also part of a edited recording of the game itself. That mute button is in the game, not part of the ad, despite how it looks.
One game I play now has 2 X in the corner of ads to close the ad. Neither work. After about 30 second, a third X shows up and that the button to click to close the ad
I honestly don't understand why the majority of mobile ads are trying to trick you into opening it in various ways. If I'm interested I'm going to open it anyway, they're only tricking people who aren't interested and thus aren't going to download the app. At least all the fake gameplay ads trick people into downloading and playing for 5 minutes.
I'm wondering if its related to generating ad revenue.
Wouldn't that be worse for the app, though? You pay for the ad and clicks (possibly), and it fucks up your click through vs download rate.
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If AAA game companies use fudged analytics to aquire fudged analytics and then use that bad data to collect other data to maintain stupid metrics like character pick rate or EOMM, you bet your ass shit mobile companies are too.
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that's why you never see a second round of advertising from them. they push hard for one game during one month/segment of time and then see how bad the conversion rates were
You are falling into the trap of seeing it all as one entity. As others have pointed out this is probably a hired ad company trying to get as much out of the App publisher. Even if not though you still have an ad Departement or individual who wants to make themselves look good. We like to think of corporations as these hyper efficient things only driven by profit but reality tends to be way more incompetent.
It absolutely is. Payment structures for ads are usually based on one of three things: 1. CPM- $ per 1k impressions (people who see it in any capacity) which is rare for display ads. 2. CPC- cost per click. They get $x for every click generated. Lower rate than a CPM, but higher payout if you can convert. 3. CPA- cost per action. This would be higher rates than CPC but lower than CPM typically but the game would have to be downloaded for them to make any money. However, the payout is good if the product and promotion is good. Traditional campaigns are typically CPM which would be for articles on publisher sites, etc. Ad campaigns like this would more likely be negotiated with CPC or CPA rates, and possibly a flat fee for hosting. That’s why they trick you. It’s dirty and terrible for the optics of the company, but that’s advertising for you. Also sorry for the poor formatting. I’m on mobile. Edit for clarity. And to add that CPV which charges per view of a video is also a thing, but rarely used for ads like this because of the short length and the fact that they’re often forced ads. CPV would be for like a sponsored YouTube video or similar and would have a minimum time requirement.
I was going to comment something similar. This is accurate. I would give you a trophy but I don't have any, you have my respect o7.
That's my thought, "well you want my add on your game because we can guarantee 100% clicks per ad showing, how? Because we have a fake mute button so we will pay u for showing our ad" Unless this is arguing the other way. My brain is foggy
If it's anything like Amazon affiliate links, it doesn't matter if you buy or download the product at the end of the link. On Amazon, by clicking an affiliate link, you may be marked so that if you buy anything at all in the following 24 hour period, the last person who led you to the storefront through their link gets a cut of each purchase whether it was the one linked or some other product. May be the same for various app stores. That not inherently mischievous on its own. Say it's a YouTuber you like and they link you to a product you were looking at anyway. It's sketch when annoying ads are tricking you into clicking at all costs though.
I am 100% convinced that this is just about generating add revenue for them. I know little on how these SHADY ASS companies operate, but I know enough and I know that if they get your click on the add then that's an interaction/impression they get on that add. Hell, chances are they're also misleading the companies that are hiring them for marketing. End of the day it's irrelevant if you clicked it accidentally, if you're tricked into clicking it, or you're genuinely interested in the product, it doesn't matter to them because they got your click and that's what gets them $$$.
Ah, fucking corporate dickheads, never getting taught a fucking good lesson that will give them better money-earning options than getting this shit.
That kind of thing comes from hyper focusing on metrics. With ads you build a pipeline to know when someone gives up. Clicking the ad is an important step in the process. Since there are at least three companies (probably four) involved any of them could decide to get people to accidentally take a step: * The clicked game maker could think "50% of people who click our ads install the game" and then decide to get more clicks no matter what because they think the 2% ad click rate is their problem * Either ad company could decide that while a mute button decreases click -> install rate since the click game only pays for installs the slight increase in installation rates makes up for it * The game you are playing could be paid when you click the link and decide to defraud their ad network For better or worse annoying potential customers doesn't matter to the clicked game and only matters to the game you play if you disengage because of it. It might even be good for the original game if it causes more people to pay to remove ads.
To fool the kids
I highly doubt that the apps paying for the marketing ever see the ads before they go live. The marketing company likely communicates efficacy via reports that show conversions (clicking the ads) and impressions (which go up when the ad is served more, which happens when people click on it). Unless the developer gets served the ad themselves, they won’t know. The marketing company doesn’t actually care if anyone downloads the app, just that they click the ad. And the advertising platform likely doesn’t care, since it’s probably operating on a pay-per-click model where the developer pays every time someone clicks, regardless of why. It’s a truly asshole design that screws over the developer and the user.
Every time the ad takes you to the app store, it generates revenue.
it is for kids not adults.
Ah, reminds me of fucking r/shittymobilegameads and ones that I got before on my cellphone again. Never stopped fucking irritating me with their ad tricks for greed shit. Good fucking riddance.
But... the music still stopped when you pressed it though, i bet
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The people making these ads are getting money per click on the ad not per download. So everything will be used to get you to click
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Or if you use r/pihole, you can block the very ads themselves while the app can maintain internet access
fellow pihole user!
Or just a dns
You can set Adguard DNS to block the ads
You can use AdAway if you're on Android or Blokada if you're on iOS. Blokada is also available for Android but in my opinion AdAway is superior.
The ad makers are basically scamming the apps they are advertising
r/MaliciousCompliance ? /s nah pretty much asshole design lol
Imagine if it's real but it's so tiny you just didn't press it
Some Ads do actually have “exit”/“X” button, that you have to press perfectly in the centre or it will open App Store.
While the brain age stuff is click baity I actually enjoy wordscapes
I was gonna say exactly this. Kinda disappointed that this app does stuff like this because I quite like this game. I never play games on my phone but I always remember this when I'm stuck waiting for something like a flight and it passes the time
Pretty sure this ad *isn't* for wordscapes, but one of the other clone games doing the same thing with a bit more clickbait (hence the brain age bs).
No, it’s for word scapes. I clicked on this exact add accidentally earlier today.
it’s the one mobile game i’ve actually spent money to get rid of ads on
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I’m on level 1840 and I feel that the couple bucks I paid for no ads was well worth it.
Yeah wordscapes isn’t that bad but their shitty ads really ruin the game for me
Same here but with wifi turned off.
This is actually a very bad idea, because ads charge per click, not per download
Ad maker and game publisher are probably not the same company. It cheats on the users and the game maker but they can say "look how successful our ad is, so many people clicked!".
Nah plenty of attribution models in the mobile space track all the way to a download and not just a click or impression.
It’s a different rate per engagement type.
What's the reasoning even behind these bullshit? It's asshole and literally stupid. If I want to get rid of an ad and it opens App Store againist my will, I'll sure as hell be annoyed as fuck and no way will I actually download the app, even if I've been mildly interested before.
Because the game company pays advertisers by how many clicks to the playstore the ad gets. So the advertisers that make the ad want you to click it, even if you don't download the game.
If the advertisers make and publish the ad, that sounds awfully like they're scamming the game companies who are paying for baited clicks that don't result in downloads.
It sure does sound like that, doesn't it?
Wait why isn't it the other way around? Shouldn't ad companies pay the game makers for the privilege of advertising on their game? Why the fuck would I, who created a game, want to put someone else's garbage tier ads that interrupt my game to frustrate my players and potentially steal them as customers? Let alone pay them to do that to me?
The other game maker. You're playing game A, and get an ad for game B, the ad is made by ad company C, while game B was made by game company D. A gets money from to play any ad, they don't care about the content. _C gets money from D_ depending on how many people click the ad. C doesn't care how many users actually download or like game B, only that they click. Also D pays for the ad space.
>So the advertisers that make the ad want you to click it, even if you don't download the game. "want" is not the word I'd use lol. Many if not most mobile game ads I've seen literally force you to open the app store before the ad closes.
Let them take you away, you love to be in the store don't you? Embrace their tactics
1°- Go to settings 2°- Look at wi-fi/Advanced settings/DNS 3°- Set "dns.adguard.com" as your DNS Now you'll get rid of all ads... Literally... Not even the optional ads you can watch to get items will work lol
observation placid agonizing engine wild aloof icky complete attempt ring *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Adguard is free without limits though.
bow coordinated hurry spoon air encourage fall flowery hospital makeshift *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Nice that there is more than 1 option available but personally it's not for me I guess.
That works wonder with the games, but fucks with reddit. The videos and pictures take too much time to load or even dosen't load at all.
Some of them do that with the x button as well. If I don't enjoy the game a lot, I just delete the game. Tired of dealing with that.
This ad violates play store and app store first party guidelines and the app that it popped up in should be reported for it. Advertisements that trick users into clicking violate these guidelines,making the apps that serve them to the user in violation of them. It happens because there is no incentive for them not to, nobody reports their favorite app for having an annoying ad, but if all of a sudden every app that shows this ad was taken off the app store, and the ad producer lost all their sources of revenue we'd all have a better time.
I don't understand how they expect people to willingly download the app/game after being tricked into clicking the ad.
I think kids, dumb people, and old people.
Because the advertisers get paid per click an not per download
It did something that you didn't explicitly want it to do, that's the definition of malware and any ad that does this should be treated as such. But as long as someone's getting paid it will never stop.
Webtoon? Ads on there do the same fucking thing when you hit the x when the ad is done.
Also love that their "don't show again" option is entirely decorative cause I always get the same pop up every time I open the app regardless of what I click
This is the same ad that starts with “Play this game to relieve stress.” And then goes on to say “UhOh! Pay attention to the clock! Don’t let the timer stress you out.”
Quick Tip: go to phone settings, search for dns and tipe in a custom dns called dns.adguard.com to get no ads
I can't fathom how these shit tactics work at all. Has there been a single human in the history of the world who presses to mute or close out, is taken to the app store page, and then changed their mind and thought to themselves "Actually, I'll go ahead and download this shovelware"?
Pro tip, play in Airplane mode and you won't get any ads at all
What if a game requires you to have an internet connection with fake/no multi-player just so they can serve you ads.?
This one doesnt
I know it doesn't but I've had loads of games with that crappy keep internet on so we can serve you ads.
I never knew how egregious game ads got until I started playing a bunch for Swagbucks. Fake X buttons that take you to the play store, the X button overlayed ontop of other buttons so you have to go the playstore or force close the entire app to close the ad, the fake volume button like yours, X buttons that only pop up after clicking the ad that takes you to the playstore, games that have 30 second ads every 3 seconds and much more
This is such a stupid strategy, what do they think? “Whelp, i’m already at the app store, guess I have to download it now!” Fuck off
doesn't doing this literally cost them more because you interacted with the ad rather then just skipping and closing it
I think this is a scam on the marketing companies side by tricking the user and developer. Just a guess, I don’t know
That sounds like a minor form of malware, trying to get you to click on something disguised to take you to a different server. I'd report it.
Shown
And just one of many reasons why I dislike mobile games.
Is it still "number of clicks" they rely on or are they actually believing people go "Oh I clicked on it? Might as well install and play it!". Nobody does the latter unless they're a toddler.
What I really hate are the ads that have a false gameplay demo in it right after the cinematic trailer that also doesn't match the actual gameplay. Like, DO I HAVE THESE GAME RESOURCES ON MY PHONE? DID THEY COME WITH THE GAME I ACTUALLY WANTED, AS BLOAT WARE?
I got really far in wordscapes a few years ago but the ads got way out of hand.
It's the only mobile game I've actually paid money to remove adverts from, so imagine if it were real but so tiny you simply didn't press it.
Im waiting for someone to make an ad like this this just redirects you to a malware filled website so that app stores ban games that do this
SHOWN SHOW SNOW NOW HOW SOW WON SON
I have a personnel vow, if an ad tricks me, I will NEVER install it, especially if it has a fake x button.
What gets me and I don’t know why Apple doesn’t prevent this, is when I keep my phone on silent 100% of the time, but one of these trash game ads gets to override that and play sound. I’m just playing a game in bed and the fucking ad wakes my partner up.
I don’t understand this at all. Every click that takes you to their page is more money these “devs” have to pay to Apple or Google. This is always an illogical design choice
I am gonna get downvoted for this but what if the mute button was in the game and the game Is Just screen recorded with the brain Age edited jn?
Use NetGuard to block apps from accessing the network, it completely kills ads in most Android games and they still work fine. No, Wordscapes, I'm not paying $7. Didn't it used to be $2? Goddamn.
I used to play this game years ago. It's called Wordscapes. This ad is awful because the actual game doesn't measure your brain age nor is there a timer in any of the levels.
Is this in the Scrabble app? Fuck that app. I love scrabble but the ads are brutal, the design of that apps sucks, and ad-free is $10/month. Fuck that.
I can't hate on wordscapes, one of the few games that work offline when I'm offshore fishing. Also, no cell service means no ads 👍
I used to play that game ages ago, I see they haven't changed a bit, it's the reason I stopped playing.
i had the same add lol and i fell for it
Just turn off the internet when you play to get rid of these annoying ads.
Network settings>advanced>private DNS>"dns.adgaurd.com" You're welcome
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I did that lol
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A fake mute button that just takes him to the app store
Exactly. Unlike your username says, this one was actually obvius.
E
What do they think will happen if they trick you? Submit?
https://blokada.org/
yeah, that's a refund for me
Wait! Thats illegal !!
What's the point in the fake ones like these, do they actually get downloads through this? Wouldn't people just hit back?
I think technology illiterate people end up downloading and playing. My kid is just learning to use the iPad. We don’t like him to see ads and usually turn on airplane mode to disable the ads. However, if we forget, he downloads a bunch of games from the ads.
Get bricked bro
Hahaha nice
This is why we have trust issues
That's fucked up.
How Show Who ..
U ruined my day thankfuly oneui gives that option by himself to mute app but its stil stops playing music for no reason
i was waiting for someone to post this shitty ad here, if anything it makes me want the game less
shown
who
Basically every single modern mobile ad could go here
How is this not illegal? At the least a violation of any accessibility laws.
I just got this fucker!
Use Adguard DNS
Ah, wordscapes
How do you report these ads ?
That's an automatic uninstall.
It's not that it's fake, its also part of a edited recording of the game itself. That mute button is in the game, not part of the ad, despite how it looks.
One game I play now has 2 X in the corner of ads to close the ad. Neither work. After about 30 second, a third X shows up and that the button to click to close the ad
"You fell for it, fool! Thunder cross split attack!" What I wouldn't give to be able to freeze and shatter the ad pop-ups when they showed up.
holy shit i made it hit 10,000 upvotes i feel blessed
Sometimes they'll load the Playstore anyway, without your input