Ad spend wasted — what the number actually is
AdPix joins the ad cost you imported to the traffic it judged invalid and tells you how much of your budget probably went to a visitor who was never there. It is a deliberately conservative estimate — not an invoice, and not a promise of a refund.
Where it appears#
On the Fraud Protection page, the Networks tab. The first thing you see is the Ad spend likely wasted card: an amount, its share of paid spend in the range, and Total paid spend beside it.
Below it the same figure is broken out twice — once under Where spend leaks, by channel, and once in the Channel × network breakdown, where you can see which ASN on which channel carries the largest share.
The range is the page's own selected range, evaluated at day granularity. Pick nothing and you get the trailing 30 days.
If the selected property is on the Free plan, you get the Premium feature screen with an Upgrade plan button instead of the report. Check the property picker at the top of the page first — a different property may be entitled.
The formula#
For each channel-and-network pair, AdPix does one multiplication: that channel's spend in the range, times the flagged network's share of all sessions on that channel. It then sums the result across all networks. The percentage on the card is that sum divided by total paid spend for the same range.
Three parts of the formula are worth getting exactly right:
| Part | Where it comes from | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Channel spend | the ad cost you imported yourself, after channel names are reconciled through the channel map | AdPix reads cost from no ad platform |
| Flagged sessions | sessions on networks that scored Confirmed or Potential in network-level scoring | Review is not counted |
| Total channel sessions | every session on that channel in the range, from the session feature layer | including sessions whose network was never resolved |
That last row is deliberate and it is the most important decision in the calculation. The denominator is all of the channel's traffic, not only the traffic AdPix could attribute to an ASN. A smaller denominator would inflate the flagged share and therefore the money figure. The number is designed to under-report.
What the number claims, and what it does not#
It claims: "in this range, this much of your paid spend was placed against traffic AdPix assessed as invalid."
It does not claim:
- A refund. Credit and clawback decisions belong to the ad network. AdPix exports the case file through Download evidence (CSV) in a network's detail drawer; it does not issue the verdict.
- The real cost of those specific clicks. AdPix has no per-click price, so it spreads channel spend evenly across that channel's sessions. If your invalid traffic happened to be your most expensive or cheapest clicks, the true figure is higher or lower.
- That a session is a click. The ad platform counts clicks; AdPix counts sessions. A click can produce no session, and a session can follow several clicks.
- A legal finding. A flag means the traffic carries the shape of invalid traffic — not that anyone has been proven to have committed fraud.
Across the industry, invalid traffic typically runs 10–20% of paid spend. A figure in that band is not by itself a crisis; a figure well above it is worth a serious look. The same sentence appears under the card.
Why it can come back empty#
If the amount is zero or the card looks empty, work down this list. It is almost always one of the first three.
Multiple currencies#
AdPix does not convert currencies. If your cost rows span more than one, totals are labelled with the most frequent currency and a notice appears above the card warning that the amounts may mix rates. If you operate several markets, keep each market's cost on its own property and the problem never arises.
From the number to an action#
The wasted amount on its own is only an alarm. What is worth doing:
- Use the Channel × network breakdown to see which channel and which ASN the waste concentrates under. Usually a handful of networks produce most of the figure.
- Click that network and read the evidence under Why this network was flagged. If you disagree with the call, Sensitivity and false positives covers the dispute path.
- Export the exclusion list for your ad platform and build the evidence file — Blocklists and refund evidence.
Once the exclusions are in place, this same number is your measure in the next range. If waste falls, the blocking worked; if it merely moves to a different ASN, you are dealing with a mobile adversary and the list needs refreshing on a cycle.
Frequently asked questions#
Why is the wasted figure zero when I have flagged networks?
Almost always because no ad cost was imported for that range, or the channel names in your cost file did not reconcile to the AdPix channel taxonomy. Check Cost & ROAS for cost in the same range first, then complete the channel mapping.
Does this mean I can claim that amount back?
No. It is an estimate of spend placed against traffic AdPix judged invalid. The refund policy belongs to the ad network, which decides on its own evidence. AdPix builds the case file; it does not issue the verdict.
Are In review sessions counted in this number?
No. Only networks whose severity is Confirmed or Potential enter the numerator. Traffic waiting on a human decision is never counted as waste.
Why doesn't the AdPix figure match my ad platform's own report?
Because the units differ. AdPix counts sessions and spreads channel spend evenly across that channel's sessions; the ad platform counts clicks, each with its own price. The gap is expected, which is why this is called an estimate.
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