Click fraud, also known as Invalid traffic, is often talked about as a platform problem, or a regional one. 

The reality is often much simpler: Some industries are carrying far more risk, waste, and hidden cost than others, often without realizing how exposed they are.

Our 2026 Global Invalid Traffic report analyzed 2.7 billion clicks across eight industries, six ad platforms, and ten countries. All data came from unprotected, monitor-only campaigns, giving a clear view of what slips past platform filters today.

We’ll be discussing the Invalid Traffic (IVT) by Industry section of the report here - you can get your copy of the full report here for a more in-depth analysis of click fraud by industry, as well as a detailed look at IVT by ad platform, IVT by Google campaign type, IVT by geography, and much more. 

Alternatively, watch our video rundown of the key findings from the report here: 

When it comes to click fraud, the headline number is sobering. Across all industries, the average invalid traffic rate sits at 8.51%. But that average hides sharp differences in who is hit hardest, and why.

Below, you’ll find click fraud statistics by industry, and what it means for paid media teams managing real budgets:

But all is not as it seems. Let’s take a closer look: 

Gaming and iGaming take the biggest hit

Gaming and iGaming sit at the top of the table with an average invalid traffic rate of 18.49%. That means nearly one in five clicks never comes from a real user.

This isn’t accidental. Gambling combines high-value transactions, aggressive CPC competition, sign-up bonuses, and strict regulation. That mix makes it a prime target for coordinated bot networks, click farms, and affiliate abuse.

We see bot activity designed to drain budgets directly, alongside bonus hunting schemes that exploit new-user offers. The incentives are huge, and the tools required to bypass detection are no longer niche. AI-driven automation has lowered the barrier fast.

If you’re running paid media in iGaming, IVT isn’t a background issue. It’s a core performance constraint.

Education, telecoms, and real estate follow closely

Education and e-learning record a 14.41% average IVT rate. Telecoms and utilities sit at 14.26%, with real estate close behind at 13.61%.

These are classic lead generation verticals. High-intent keywords, expensive clicks, and multi-step forms create ideal conditions for bots to blend in.

The cost isn’t just wasted spend. Junk form fills pollute CRMs, slow sales teams, and distort conversion data. When even 10-15% of leads are fake, optimisation decisions start drifting off course quickly.

Finance and insurance feel the cost pressure

Finance and insurance record an average IVT rate of 10.12%. That might look lower than education or telecoms, but the financial impact is often higher.

These are some of the most expensive clicks in digital advertising. A single invalid interaction can cost tens or hundreds of dollars, before sales teams even get involved.

High CPCs combined with complex funnels mean that small shifts in IVT rates translate into large swings in acquisition cost and forecast accuracy.

Travel sits near the global average

Travel comes in at 9.04%, slightly above the global benchmark.

While travel benefits from transactional intent, it also attracts scraping activity, automated price comparison, and inventory monitoring bots. These interactions aren’t always malicious, but they still inflate costs and muddy performance signals.

For brands competing aggressively on paid search and metasearch, even marginal IVT can tip campaigns from profitable to break-even.

Software and IT look safer, but aren’t

Software and IT record an average IVT rate of 6.48%, well below the global average. On paper, that looks reassuring.

In practice, the downstream impact is often underestimated. SaaS funnels rely on demo requests, trials, gated content, and contact forms. All of these are easy targets for automated submissions.

If a single spam lead costs a sales rep 5-10 minutes of follow-up, then even a modest volume of invalid leads creates real operational drag. Over time, wasted labour, pipeline clutter, and skewed reporting can rival the cost of wasted media spend itself.

A good example is PLAION, a global video game publisher operating in the software space. During a key launch period, some territories showed IVT rates as high as 50%. Once protection was enabled, invalid traffic dropped by 42.47% and conversion rates increased by 15%, directly improving ROI and attribution accuracy.

Retail has the lowest rate, but the pain is still very real

Retail sits at the bottom of the table with an average IVT rate of 6.03%.

That doesn’t mean retail advertisers are safe. Retail operates on razor-thin margins, meaning even a 6% IVT rate can wipe out a large share of profit per order.

With retail advertisers spending $83.09B on digital ads in 2024, that 6.03% IVT rate translates to $5.01B in wasted spend across the sector in a single year. That figure doesn’t include the lost revenue opportunity if those clicks had converted normally.

Why these gaps exist

The variation across industries isn’t random. Business model, funnel complexity, CPC pressure, and inventory exposure all play a role.

Lead gen verticals suffer more because they offer bots more opportunities to imitate success. High-value sectors attract fraud because the payoff is higher. Lower-IVT industries tend to have simpler paths to conversion and tighter targeting, but no one is immune.

It’s also worth noting that averages hide internal variance. Two companies in the same industry can see very different IVT rates depending on structure, targeting, and channel mix.

The difference between 6% and 10% IVT may look small. At enterprise scale, it’s often the difference between millions lost and millions recovered.

The takeaway for paid media teams

Click fraud isn’t evenly distributed. Some industries are carrying a far heavier tax on their ad spend than others, often without visibility.

If you’re operating in gaming, lead gen, or high-CPC verticals, IVT should be treated as a core performance variable, not a hygiene check. Cleaner traffic leads to cleaner data, better optimization, and more predictable growth.

The marketers who win in 2026 won’t just buy more reach. They’ll know which clicks were real in the first place.

Download your copy of the 2026 Global Invalid Traffic Report here to learn where your ad budget is most at risk - and what you can do to protect your ad spend efficiency.