What is the profound impact of the SKAdNetwork 2.2 update on mobile growth and install attribution?

Recently, the topic of IDFA turn off has been heatedly discussed by everyone, and it is indeed a closely related event for most mobile application promoters. How to monitor the actual effect and accurate push of advertisements including Facebook will be affected.

The impact is quite profound for the tens of billions of display advertising platforms each year. How will the updated attribution of SKAdNetwork2.2 come into play soon, and what challenges does it bring to mobile growth? The following ASOWorld team will discuss this topic with you.

As we all know, SKAdNetwork is Apple's attribution framework and will provide Apple-verified attribution data for iOS 14. The new privacy guidelines and the actual abolition of IDFA will take effect in the next iOS version (14.5), roughly in the early spring of 2021.

How SKAdNetwork attribution will work and the challenges it poses to mobile growth. Understanding these challenges will help you navigate these uncharted areas so that you can make the right decisions, maximize development and make the company happy.

In early February, Apple updated its "User Privacy" website with the following content:

Understand the new update of SKAdNetwork 2.2 (and the meaning of mobile growth and installation attribution)-1
Therefore, we see that Apple mentioned that it added support for browsing attribution in various ad formats. It's time to delve into the SKAdNetworks documentation and unzip it.

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What has changed in the SKAdNetwork 2.2 update?

Everyone wants to know exactly what has changed in SKAdNetwork 2.2. In fact, before version 2.2, there was very little information about the supported ad types and attribution logic. However, since Apple is working hard to promote SKAdNetwork as its complete iOS attribution solution, they have shared more features.

Which types of ad networks will support SKAdNetwork and be eligible for installation verification?

According to Apple’s SKAdNetwork documentation, we can understand that if an ad network wants to get any revenue from installations performed by SKAdNetwork, it needs to use two possible types of eligible ads.

Ads presented by Storekit

These are by no means new, but using Apple’s Storekit framework, these ads will present the complete App Store product page in the actual impression, so that users can install the ad app directly from the ad without having to redirect it to the App Store . application. Storekit add will automatically record ad impressions.

Display ads

I find this name a bit confusing, but it means that any ad network will be able to use any ad format (video, image, playable, etc.) they want, and report to SKAdNetwork that an ad impression has occurred through an explicit call to SKAdNetwork API .

These two ad types and the resulting types of impressions will be reported to SKAdNetwork through a new attribute called "Fidelity" to distinguish them. The fidelity of Storekit ads is 1, and the fidelity of browse ads is 0.

For some reason, Apple has made a distinction between these two types of advertising. Let's analyze it together below:

How will browse-oriented attribution logic work?

Apple also provided a document detailing the exact logic for controlling which ad gets credit for installation.

SKAdNetwork will remember the last 15 impressions, nothing more.

According to official documents, SKAdNetwork will only remember the last 15 impressions of each user and each ad application. If another impression occurs, say the 16th, the "oldest" impression will be deleted.

In order for an ad impression to be eligible for installation credit, the impression must contain 15 impressions; if it is not in the array, there is a 0% chance of getting any credit. If the installation is not performed in the determined attribution window, or 15 more impressions have occurred after that, the impressions can leave the array.

Fidelity is very important, and Storkit ads are more likely to gain credibility than browse ads.
Although Apple seems to provide a lot of flexibility for advertising networks to allow them to customize the viewable ad unit in the way they see fit, they clearly pointed out that Storekit ads will be preferred within their attribution logic. "

A) Attributions affected by fidelity type and recency

Remember the old Fidelity property? SKAdNetwork will always get the latest ad impressions with the highest fidelity through installation. This means that even if the user takes the browsing advertisement as the last impression, and even if the user clicks on the advertisement and installs the application, he still thinks that the Storekit advertisement will be received before the Storekit advertisement receives the bonus.

This is an example:

Suppose that user A views advertisements A, B, and then views C. Both A and B are Storekit advertisements placed on a specific network, and C is a browse-type advertisement placed on different networks.

After the user viewed Ad C, they clicked and installed the app.

Which ad will receive credit for installation? Ad B is the latest ad impression with the highest fidelity.


B) Attribution affected by the attribution window.

When checking the attribution window, the benefits of Storekit ads still exist. In order for ad impressions to receive installation credit, the installation must be done within the attribution window (otherwise it will leave the impressions array).

Take a look at the time range:

Understand the new update of SKAdNetwork 2.2 (and its implications for mobile growth and installation attribution)-2 Storekit ads have a 30-day time window and can be "waited" for installation. View ads have a much shorter lifespan, only 24 hours of installation time can be ignored.

How does this change the incentive mechanism in the advertising network field?

The two factors of attribution logic and attribution window work together to greatly increase the chances. Even if Storekit ad display occurs during a specific user journey, even if the ad is affected, the Storekit display will get credit. The user decides to install it. Attribution.

This means that if the ad network wants to show the greatest success of its ad campaigns, it can do so better by running Storekit ads instead of browsing ads.

Not only should these ads inflate the number of installs due to their own installations of viewable ads, but also the number of installs they will be attributed to organic (with a 30-day attribution window).

Mathematically speaking, campaigns that use Storekit ads have a much higher number of verified installs than SKAdNetwork for browse-based campaigns.

I hope that unless Apple changes the competitive environment, many ad networks will promote the use of Storekit ads.

Why did Apple create skewed attribution logic to use Storekit ads or "app store page" ads?
In view of the fact that Apple did not provide any help on the reasons for making these decisions, we left our thoughts.

I think Apple’s move to take SKAdNetwork, iOS 14 privacy, ATT and IDFA is to control the app user experience from start to finish. It is related to how users find apps (Search Ads in the App Store and other Apple Apps, advertising networks) and the appearance and behavior of these ads.

Apple may think that Storekit ads can provide the best user experience and have a "what you see is what you get" atmosphere. We can imagine that Apple is not for "fake ads" and other behaviors they think are not like Apple, so they want to reward those advertising networks that can provide Storekit experience.

If ad networks will promote Storekit ads more than browsing, then App Store pages become particularly important because this is the impression of these ads. The messaging on the app store page will have a major impact on the success of these ads. User acquisition teams accustomed to ad creative optimization will need to think more about the creative optimization of their app stores.

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Trying to understand the factors driving growth is more challenging.

Finally, suppose that SKAdNetwork is the source of truth, and its campaign led to deviations in the number of installs and attribution logic. In this case, it is difficult to understand which campaigns and ads have contributed to incremental growth.

Due to the new attribution logic, a very successful ad may show fewer installs than it brings. The wrong conclusion is to stop serving the ad.

So how can you understand which campaigns and ads perform best?

You must view the entire picture. Just by checking aggregated data about impressions and installs (paid and organic impressions), as well as data from SKAdNetwork/MMP and App Store Connect and Google Play console, you can understand which campaigns/ads/events are driving overall growth And doubled.