At a glance: Increase the efficiency of your remarketing programs using AppsFlyer Audiences to build and connect audience segments to your partner networks.
Related articles: Audience partners | User Attributes | Import audience | Incrementality guide
- Seamlessly segment users using attribution data points for precise audience creation
- Enable cross-network re-engagement using a network of integrated partners
- Securely manage your sensitive audience data from one central dashboard
- Split the segment, keeping a portion in a control group held back from remarketing, and divide the remainder amongst the partners
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Run incrementality testing to measure the true impact of your remarketing campaigns
Concepts
Step | Information | Procedures | |
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1 | Define the audience segment using rules | Add an audience | |
2 | Connect the audience to one or more partners. You will need partner credentials to do so. | Credentials required per partner | Add an audience |
3 | [Optional] Split the audience amongst partners/control group | Audiences split and control groups | Set split and control groups |
Optional | Import an audience |
Audience segmentation rulesets
- An audience segment ruleset consists of a mandatory primary rule and additional secondary rules to enable precision filtering.
- Combine rulesets using operators: and, or, exclude.
- As rules are defined and layered, the estimated audience size displays in real-time.
- Where an audience consists of multiple rulesets, use the overlap visualization display to better understand your audience segments.
- The user identifier used to evaluate rules is either the advertising ID [default] or the customer user ID (CUID). The audience list, sent to networks, always contains advertising IDs but can optionally include CUID for cross-device segmentation.
- The examples that follow illustrate ruleset implementation in various scenarios.
Ruleset examples
Example: User-attributes based rule
Users who launched the app in the last 7 days at least once and whose favorite sport is cricket.

Remarketing example
Using clicks and views for effective remarketing. To convert these users, a little extra convincing or a gentle reminder is needed. These users have a high probability of converting, so remarketing to them, can produce significantly better results, than advertising to new segments. Create precise audiences for remarketing based on clicks and impressions data collected.
Build an audience of potential users that clicked on an ad but did not install in the last two days.

These are users who, in the recent past, were sufficiently interested in your mobile app to click on your ad, but for some reason did not install the app, or installed the app but did not launch it. Some users just need a reminder (push) to install it. Others may need to see more screens or features of your app to finally convert. Therefore, if you have a primary creative you use on new audiences, it might be better to use a different creative for audiences that clicked but did not install.
Primary rule
You must define one primary rule per ruleset.
Rule attribute | Options |
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Users of the App App is any app housed in the account. The team member defining the audience needs permission for all apps referenced. |
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Who have:
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Used the app:
[n]=1-100 |
Secondary rules
- Secondary rules are optional
- You can have multiple secondary rules
- Each rule has a unique type, for example, engagement, in-app event, revenue
- Rules have different parameters and settings, as listed in the table
Engagement |
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In-app event |
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Time frame and Frequency |
Event attribute:
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Notes relating to in-app events
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Revenue |
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Notes about revenue:
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Location and metro code |
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Location options
Metro code options
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Notes relating to location
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Device |
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Attribution |
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User-attribute |
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User-attribute name |
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For number: Enter a value |
Add an audience
To add an audience:
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Go to Integration > Audiences.
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Click Add Audience.
The Build tab displays. -
Enter a unique Audience name.
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Select the platform: Android or iOS.
- [Optional] Select Advanced settings to select the user identifier:
- [Default] Advertising ID: evaluates rules by advertising ID only.
- Customer user ID: evaluates rules by grouping devices using the CUID. Use this method after you verify that your data has valid CUIDs.
- Select New ruleset.
- Build the audience guided by the user interface.
- For specific information about rule options, see primary rule, secondary rules, and combining rulesets in this article.
- Combine rulesets using the operators and, or, exclude.
- Complete defining the audience, click Save audience and proceed.
The audience connection window opens. - Do one of the following:
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To add a new connection:
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Click Add partner connection.
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Type a connection name.
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Select a partner.
- Follow the instruction in the user interface to complete adding a connection.
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Click Add partner connection.
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- To select from an existing connection:
- Click Link connections.
- Select one or more existing connections.
- Click Save.
The Audience connection window opens. - [Optional] Split an audience between partners and a control group
- [Optional] Copy split groups to S3.
- Click Link connections.
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- Click Save.
Combine rulesets
To combine a ruleset with an existing audience
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Go to Integration > Audiences.
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Click Add Audience.
The Build tab displays. -
Enter a unique Audience name.
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Select the platform: Android or iOS.
- [Optional] Select Advanced settings to select the user identifier:
- [Default] Advertising ID: evaluates rules by advertising ID only.
- Customer user ID: evaluates rules by grouping devices using the CUID. Use this method after you verify that your data has valid CUIDs.
- Click Select from my audiences.
- Select an operator: and, or, exclude.
To combine a ruleset with an imported audience:
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- Create the audience, for example, A.
- Create the import audience, for example, Import_B.
- Create a combined audience using Select from my Audiences. Combine A with Import_B using the operators.
Advanced concepts
User-identifier (advanced setting)
Audience rule evaluation is performed using an app user identifier. Select from:
- [Default] Advertising ID: Ruleset compliance is assessed using the advertising ID. When compliant with the ruleset, the Advertising ID is added to the audience list. Note: Advertising ID means GAID, IDFA, or equivalent.
- Customer User ID (CUID):
- Ruleset compliance is assessed by grouping advertising IDs (devices) associated with the same CUID together. If the group complies with the ruleset, then the advertising IDs comprising the group are added to the audience. Note: The CUID itself is not part of the audience list.
- CUID implementation considerations:
- Ensure that your data is populated with valid CUIDs.
- App users (devices) without a CUID are ignored.
- When an advertising ID is matched to a CUID, historical audience data for the user is updated retroactively and included in audience builds going forward. Note: No change is made to raw data.
- If an advertising ID is associated with two different CUIDs, the CUID most recently associated is used (wins.)
Example Advertising ID vs. CUID
Advertising ID |
CUID | Purchase $ |
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A | 99 | 1 |
A | 99 | 2 |
B | 77 | 1 |
B | 77 | 5 |
C | 99 | 3 |
D | None | 50 |
Rule evaluated by | Advertising IDs included in the audience | Explanation |
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Advertising ID | B, D, E | A and C are not included - the spend was less than $5 |
CUID | A, B, C |
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Audience split and control groups
Feature | Description |
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Audience split |
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Control groups | A portion of the audience can be held back in a control group. The control group is not sent to any partner. Control groups are used in A/B testing. |
Send a copy of split lists to an S3 bucket |
CSV files containing the split audience lists and control group can be sent to an Amazon S3 bucket. They are sent as follows:
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Dashboard
Use the dashboard to edit audience settings, view the audience upload status, manage connections to partners.
Manage audiences
To open the dashboard:
- Go to Integration > Audiences.
- The options available are listed in the table
Option Description Change audience settings
Click an Audience name, do one of the following:
- In the Build tab: view, and change rulesets.
- In the Connect tab: set audience split, and control group options.
Add audience
Build a new audience Actions
- View history: Displays the audience upload history including audience size, and split between partners.
- Upload now: Sends the audience to connected partners.
- Download as CSV:
- Duplicate:
- Copy the audience definition.
- [Option] remove one or more of the connected partners during duplication.
- Note: Audience names do not have to be unique. When you duplicate an audience, give it a unique name.
- Calculate now: Available for imported audiences. Recalculates the number of users in an audience. Use as needed, to refresh the audience size, if it does not look correct.
- Delete the audience
Bulk actions Carry out the same action on multiple audiences. To use bulk actions, select two or more audiences and a bulk action as follows:
- Upload now
- Show audience overlap: displays the audience overlap between the selected audiences
- Delete
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Column Description Audience name Size Number of users in the audience App name The app referenced in audience selection. This is not necessarily the app being targeted Upload to - Icons of partners to whom the audience is sent
indicates that the audience is split between partners
Upload status - The current audience upload status
- In case of failure, click View details and take corrective action in accordance with the detailed error message that displays
Incrementality [Displays if you subscribe to Incrementality]
Click on a link to go to the Incrementality dashboardAudience tab columns
Manage connections
The connections tab contains the partners and connection status for each connection.
To manage/add a connection
- Go to Integration > Audiences > Connections.
- Do one of the following:
- To add a new connection:
- Click Add parnter connection.
- Enter a Connection name.
- Select a Partner
- Complete the fields/login to partner process. Some partners have detailed instructions about how to connect.
- Click Add partner connection.
- To manage an existing connection:
- Select a partner.
- Select a connection.
- To add a new connection:
- Do any of the following actions.
Option | Procedure |
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Delete connection |
To delete a connection:
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Reconnect |
To reconnect:
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Change the connection name |
To change the connection name:
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Set split audience and control group
The following options are available:
- Split the audience amongst the connected partners and optionally hold back a portion in a control group. Caution: Modifying an existing split allocation between partners causes redistribution of the entire audience. This can negatively impact the validity of A/B or incrementality test measurements.
- Send a copy of the audience list to your S3 bucket Note: This is not the same as defining Amazon S3 as a connected partner. The audience lists can be downloaded to a CSV file. Use the CSV file, for example, to send to partners who are not integrated with AppsFlyer.
- Create and add a new connection.
- Add/Remove an existing connection.
Set split audience and control group
- Go to Integration > Audiences.
- In the Audiences tab, select the audience.
- Go to the Connect tab.
The current settings display. - Do any of the following actions.
Option |
Procedure |
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Split an audience between partners and control group
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To split an audience amongst partners/enable a control group:
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Copy split groups to S3 |
To send a copy of the audience split list to an S3 bucket:
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Create and add a new connection |
To create a new connection:
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Add/remove an existing connection |
To remove or add an existing connection:
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Traits and Limitations
Traits
Trait | Supported | Remarks |
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Ad networks | x | |
Agencies | x | |
Agency transparency | x | |
App-specific time zone | N/A | |
App-specific currency | N/A | |
Size limitations | N/A | |
Organic data | ✓ | Included |
Non-organic data | ✓ | Included |
Data freshness | Daily UTC |
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Historical data | ✓ | See data freshness |
Team member access | ✓ |
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Limitations
- A positive condition is required to create a base audience (primary rule). Then reduce it by negative conditions. For example, installed the app AND did not do af_purchase event.
- Windows Phone not supported.
- Audience names cannot be changed on the connected partners’ side.
- Nested event values aren't supported.
- When creating an audience, only the top 100 events display. However, when you begin entering an event name, all events display.
- In-app events having more than 100 attributes by default aren't recorded. Contact your CSM if more attributes are required.
- Clicks and impressions data only contain devices which have an advertising_id/idfa on their original click URL. The devices of users from SRNs, which don't use external attribution links, are not included in the clicks data for audiences.
- When using the Total Revenue filter within the query builder, the estimated audience size is not available. This doesn't affect the audience creation process.
- You cannot combine audiences created by import with other audiences or rulesets.
- Download file size limited to 5 million records.
- Google Ads: UAC campaigns aren't supported. Other campaign types are supported.
- Event reports by S2S must have an advertising identifier of CUID according to the ruleset