Mobile marketers often have a hard time determining the impact of CTV ads on their overall advertising strategy. But with the right signals in place, it gets a lot easier.
On Tuesday, Roku and AppsFlyer announced the launch of a new self-reporting network (SRN) integration between both companies, which will allow mobile app advertisers to more effectively measure their streaming video campaigns across all Roku platforms.
The integration expands upon the previous partnership between Roku and AppsFlyer, which was originally designed to support app install campaigns and only included data from Roku’s endemic and OneView-based video placements.
Now, however, inventory from the recently launched Roku Ads Manager will also be available to AppsFlyer’s users, who will be able to access Roku’s placements across a single measurement protocol.
AppsFlyer’s customers can also expect to get more improved signals from Roku’s graph of 90 million households, further improving coverage.
How the integration works
AppsFlyer’s SRN has been a key part of its product offering since the very beginning and was born out of early collaborations with Meta and Google.
Two years ago, however, AppsFlyer began retooling its integrations to be less based on Ad IDs, like IDFA and GAID, as the rate of audience overlap was beginning to shrink and result in lower overall coverage.
The new, more advanced SRN is instead rooted in probabilistic signals, like IP matching. It also allows AppsFlyer to both send and receive conversion signals from its partners, which, Director of Product Strategy Alex Yip said, is what makes SRNs a more “two-way street” compared to other conversion APIs (CAPIs).
In other words, AppsFlyer isn’t just receiving data from Roku; it can also send mobile activity like app installs, subscriptions and purchases to Roku’s own self-attributing network (or SAN, which is really just another term for SRN). That way, Roku can more accurately show those ads to audiences who are more likely to convert, said Roku Head of Ad Innovation Peter Hamilton.
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Furthermore, advertisers can track multitouch journeys in sequential order, allowing them more attribution information than a setup that’s based entirely on last-touch metrics can typically afford, said Yip.
The new integration is ultimately designed to appeal to mobile advertisers that are still experimenting with CTV, said Yip – not just in gaming but other verticals like fin tech, ecommerce, travel and even gambling.
To sweeten the deal, Roku is even offering additional incentives to get mobile marketers on board with CTV, including ad credits and budget matches for testing at scale, said Hamilton.
How mobile marketers benefit
Mistplay, a mobile app that allows users to earn gift cards for playing games on their phone, was one of the first companies to beta test the new integration earlier this summer. Although the company makes its money directly from game publishers, its marketing department is focused on user acquisition, said Mistplay VP of Consumer Marketing Noa Gutterman.
Since expanding its app from Google Play to iOS stores in May this year, Mistplay is now planning to make heavier investments into CTV. Although it’s still early days, Gutterman said the data from AppsFlyer and Roku’s integration will allow her to better communicate campaign effectiveness to company leadership, like the CFO and CEO.
“If I can prove the ROI, I can scale the budget; it’s just that simple,” said Gutterman. Which, in turn, allows her team to do more interesting things with its CTV advertising where both media buying and creative are concerned.
For example, Mistplay’s upcoming Q4 holiday campaign includes a special blooper-filled ad that will only appear on select channels. Using a bespoke promo code and increased signal attribution from AppsFlyer, the marketing team will be able to pinpoint exactly which new users download the app based on that specific ad compared to the rest of its placements.
“CTV used to kind of be like jumping into dark water feet-first and hoping you were going to be okay,” added Gutterman. “With this data integration and other advancements, now it feels like jumping into clear water.”
