As Apple introduces new restrictions on its Advertiser Identification (IDFA) in the coming months, advertisers and app publishers are looking for alternative measures to track users and measure advertising campaigns. An important piece of the puzzle is SkadNetwork, Apple’s own solution to enable measurement and allocation of mobile advertising campaigns in a privacy-friendly way. Whether you opt for the ad network changes or implement a hybrid option between the new requirements of IDFA and SkadNetworks, this will bring significant benefits and higher conversion rates for your search, advertising, apps and products.
SkadNetwork is an attempt by Apple to enable the measurement of mobile advertising campaigns in a way that does not require an IDFA. Apple introduced SkadNetwork in 2018 with a different approach to campaign measurement, where user-level data is not available.
SkadNetwork is an aggregated method for measuring the allocation of mobile advertising campaigns in iOS apps. It provides data from Apple’s advertising network, which is used in iOS 14, at the campaign level. It is a way to get assignment for advertising campaigns on iOS.
Apple requires ad networks that use SkadNetwork to request an ad network ID. In order for Ad Networks to track conversions with Skadnetwork, the Ad Network ID must be displayed in the infoplist file of the source app once you have received a registration from Apple. Publishers who display SKADNetwork-enabled ads from ads networks must include the AD network ID in their app configuration file (info list).
SkadNetwork 2.0
SkadNetwork 2.0 helps advertisers measure the success of advertising campaigns while protecting users “privacy. SkadNetwork is a cross-ad network and deterministic mapping solution which means the data science team can compare ad orders across the Apple and Apple approaches to mobile ad networks and platforms. When an ad app is released, the ad network connects the app advertiser to the publisher to target the app, and the app is sold to a mobile measurement partner (MMP) who is responsible for linking the dots between attributes, optimizing app data and campaign performance metrics.
When a user clicks on an advertisement that opens in the store, the network publishing app provides the user with basic information such as the campaign ID of the network publisher. When the user installs the app and launches it in SkadNetwork, the attributes window installs the ad network attributes on the device and sends the installation to the network provider. When Apple and Skadnetwork attribute parameters to an ad clicked when the app is first installed and opened, they send the installation back to the ad network with information such as campaign ID.
With that in mind, the use of a lot of SkadNetwork data must be part of an overall assignment solution that combines deterministic, non-deterministic methods, differentiated privacy and all parts of SKADNetwork to make it more accurate.
SkadNetwork presents a structural challenge because postbacks are sent to the ad network as attributes and advertisers process data on their behalf (blind postbacks). Apart from the challenge of reaching out to the right users through a small pool of opt-in IDFAs, the AppTrackingTransparency Framework enforces that SkadNetwork by definition does not share user-level information with ad networks unless the user explicitly chooses not to. As a result, most advertisers who choose Skadnetwork adhere to Apple’s tracking guidelines for programmatic advertising attributes on iOS and DSPs, and offer Skad network-compatible inventory.
Facebook relies on Apple’s SkadNetwork API for converting event reporting and aggregating data at campaign level, which is limited due to prioritization. Customers are able to obtain data to identify, track and analyze app events once they are done. SkadNetworks does not require any further changes from developers or marketers, but data is delayed by at least 24-48 hours, hampering real-time optimization.
Unlike IDFA, SkadNetwork allows assignment by sharing user and device data.
