📊 Mobile Web Becomes a Major Source of Ad Waste

The study’s primary takeaway is that the digital advertising industry has hit a critical inflection point, marked by a stark divide in inventory quality. While the open web remains vital for achieving massive scale, its unmanaged display segments—particularly on mobile devices—have become the main source of ad clutter and junk traffic driven by Made-for-Advertising (MFA) sites. Conversely, high-quality video environments are showing steady growth in viewability, audience attention, and direct business efficiency.

The Structural Viewability Gap

The performance gap between video formats and traditional banners has officially evolved from a temporary trend into a permanent market reality.

• The Viewability Divide: The average global viewability rate for video ads reached 79.7%, outperforming display advertising (67.9%) by 11.8 percentage points. This reflects a sustained shift in consumer demand toward immersive, video-centric content on CTV and social platforms.
• Cost-Efficiency: Marketers prioritizing attention metrics within video environments saw a 56% increase in attention scores alongside a record 76% reduction in cost-per-click (CPC).
• Sales Impact: At the household level, conversion into actual sales for video ads with high attention retention was up to 313% higher compared to standard placements.

Mobile Web as a High-Risk Zone

According to the report, ad waste and brand safety risks are currently heavily concentrated within the mobile display web. While this segment accounts for 45.1% of all analyzed impressions, it generates a disproportionately high share of media waste:

• 54.9% of all brand safety violations;
• 71.5% of global ad clutter (an excessive pile-up of banners on a single page);
• 71.9% of all impressions served on junk MFA sites.

The prevalence of MFA traffic on the mobile web is currently four times higher than on desktop devices. Experts emphasize that buying large-scale reach on the open web must be paired with proactive page-level optimization to prevent budgets from silently draining away.

The Sustainability Factor

A significant revelation in the report is the direct correlation between climate-conscious media buying and ad quality. Data from joint research by IAS and the Good-Loop platform proves that green-certified ad supply chains—where the carbon footprint of data centers and servers is measured and reduced—inherently perform better.

In the EMEA region, eco-friendly ad campaigns saw an overall 3.9 percentage point increase in quality impressions. In verticals such as Travel & Entertainment, this figure jumped by 8.7 percentage points, confirming that reducing digital noise and optimizing infrastructure directly boost conversion rates.

“In the era of AI-generated and AI-scaled content, simply buying massive reach is no longer enough. The winning brands are those optimizing placements for verified user attention that converts into real business outcomes. Navigating this new reality requires more than defensive filtering. Marketers need proactive, AI-driven analytics tools that can cut through the synthetic noise, eliminate hidden waste, and turn media quality into a true engine of efficiency,” concludes Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of Integral Ad Science.