Playbook: Vetting a fresh pop source in 48h
Heard a new self-serve pop dash is opening invites? Don't dump budget. Run this:
— Hour 0: buy $50 on ONE geo, ONE OS, cap impressions at 5k. Watch for impression inflation.
— Hour 6: pull sub_id level data. If 40%+ traffic has no referrer chain, it's bot-fluffed.
— Day 1: re-fire the SAME zone IDs. Real inventory holds CTR within ~15%; fake redrifts wildly.
— Day 2: pixel-match conversions vs their reported clicks. Gap over 25% = they're padding.
Kill switch: any single zone delivering 60%+ of volume.
— confidence: high
Pop Wire
@pop_wire