Audiences guide

A Custom Audience is built from scratch using any rulesets and filters you wish.

To create a Custom Audience:

1. In the AppsFlyer left-side panel, go to Integration > Audiences.
2. Click New audience.
3. Select Custom audience.
   The Build tab displays.
4. Enter a unique Audience name.*
5. Select the platform: Android or iOS.
6. Select the user identifier:
7. [Default] Device ID: Evaluates rules by device ID only.
8. Customer ID: Evaluates rules by grouping devices using the CUID (use this method only after you verify that your data has valid CUIDs.)
9. Select New ruleset, or if you wish to add the users of an existing audience, click Existing audience then select the specific audience from the list.
10. Build the audience guided by the user interface. For specific information about rule options, see All about rulesets.
11. Combine rulesets using the operators and, or, exclude.
12. As you build your audience, the panes on the right side automatically update the estimated audience and per-partner upload sizes.
13. Complete defining the audience, then click Next.
    The Audience connection window appears. This is where you connect the audience to your media partners. 

*Audience names may be visible on your connected media partner sites. Please be aware of not including sensitive information.

Suggested Audiences enable you to explore and discover ready-made audience segments, that are based on industry best practices. You can select an audience, customize it, and connect it with your partner networks for optimally targeted marketing campaigns. 

Choose from over 30+ audiences within the categories of Aquire, Activate, Engage, Monetize, and industry-specific audiences. The audiences are 100% customizable, so you can create the exact audience you need. Audiences include:

• Convert ad clicks into installs
• Get lookalikes 
• Suppression lists
• Encourage registration
• Encourage purchase
• Monetize purchasers
• And a lot more…

To create a Suggested Audience:

1. In the AppsFlyer left-side panel, go to Integration > Audiences.
2. Click New audience.
3. Select Suggested audience.
4. Select the app.
5. Browse through the various categories and select an audience that matches your goals.
   Note: Some audiences require you to add the specific in-app events to define the audience criteria. If the AppsFlyer predefined event has already been configured in your app, it will be pre-selected. If not, you'll need to select the appropriate custom event from the dropdown menu.

   

6. Click Select & customize.
7. Select the user identifier:
   • [Default] Device ID: Evaluates rules by device ID only.
   • Customer ID: Evaluates rules by grouping devices using the CUID (use this method only after you verify that your data has valid CUIDs.)
8. If you wish to further customize the audience by adding additional rulesets, you can do so if you wish by clicking + Filter. When done, click Next. 
   The Audience connection window appears. This is where you connect the audience to your media partners. 

You can import predefined audience segments from your internal systems (such as BI and CRM) to AppsFlyer Audiences, and use it as your central point for connecting and maintaining all of your audience segments with your advertising partners. Additionally, it allows you to enjoy Audiences features, such as identifier matching/data enrichment and connected campaign metrics.

Once you've defined your audience, the next step is connecting it to your media partners.

To connect your audience to media partners:

1. After defining your new audience on the audience Build page, click Next. The Audience connection window appears.
2. Click + Partner connection, then do one of the following:

   • To add a new connection, click + Add partner connection (see the Create a new connection section below for detailed instructions).

   • To select from existing connections:
     1. Search for the partner connection.
        
     2. Select one or more existing connections.
     3. Click Save.
        The Audience connection window opens. 
     4. [Optional] Split an audience between partners and a control group
     5. [Optional] Copy split groups to S3.
3. Click Save.
   Once connected, the audience is updated and pushed to partners daily.

Audience rule evaluation is performed using an app user identifier. Select from:

• [Default] Device ID: Ruleset compliance is assessed using the device ID (GAID or IDFA/IDFV). When compliant with the ruleset, the device ID is added to the audience list. Note: The device ID will be shared with partners only when permitted by your user identifier policy.

• Customer ID (CUID): 
  • Ruleset compliance is assessed by grouping all device IDs associated with the same CUID. If the group complies with the ruleset, then the device IDs comprising the group are added to the audience. Note: The CUID itself is not part of the audience list and is not sent to media partners.
  • CUID implementation considerations:
    • Ensure that your data is populated with valid CUIDs.
    • App users (devices) without a CUID are ignored.
    • When a device 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 a device ID is associated with two different CUIDs, the most recently-associated CUID is used.

Use the toggle that splits the audience among partners and a control group to effortlessly set the stage for A/B testing and Incrementality measurement so you can get the crucial insights you need about campaign impact. When enabled, the feature randomly splits the audience among your selected partners and a control group. The control group is the portion of the audience that is held back from partners and is a necessary requirement for Incrementality measurement. You can adjust any of the split percentages you wish and disable or re-enable the split per audience.

To split the audience and perform other partner actions:

1. In the AppsFlyer left-side panel, go to Integration > Audiences.
2. In the Audiences tab, select the audience.
3. Go to the Connect tab.
   

   

   The current settings display:
   
   • The top, right-side pane displays estimated total audience and upload sizes (for all partners)
   • The bottom, right-side presents a visualization of:
     • Estimated upload size for each partner
     • Partner overlap (for audiences that aren't split)
4. Take any of the following actions:

To manage audiences from the Audiences dashboard:

1. In the AppsFlyer left-side panel, go to Integration > Audiences.
2. The following options are available:
   

   Option	Description
   Create a new audience	Create a new audience
   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.
   Actions	In the  icon that appears on the right when hovering over an audience: 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:  Generates and downloads the audience list as CSV files(s) that include the identifiers you select. Only data that complies with your user identifier policy will be downloaded. One file is generated for each partner. The file(s) are downloaded after calculation of the audience, which can take some time after you create or modify an audience. Downloaded files are limited to 5 million records. For larger files, send the file to an S3 bucket or use SFTP.  Only an audience that is connected to partner networks will be updated daily and kept current. If the audience is not connected to partner networks, it will not be kept current beyond the audience creation date. If you want to download the most current info, you can duplicate the audience to recreate it (see below), then download the CSV from the duplicated audience. Duplicate:  Copies the audience definition. When you duplicate an audience, give it a unique name.  [Option] Remove one or more of the connected partners during duplication. Calculate now: [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, then select one of the following bulk actions: Upload now Show audience overlap: displays the audience overlap between the selected audiences Delete

• An audience segment ruleset consists of one or multiple 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.
• Rulesets can be duplicated by clicking the icon.
• 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 device ID [default] or the customer user ID (CUID).

The examples that follow illustrate ruleset implementation in various scenarios.

• A ruleset consists of one or multiple rules.
• There are various ruleset filter categories such as Events, Revenue, Geo, Attribution, User attributes, Devices, and Owned media.
• Rules have different parameters and settings, as listed in the table below.

To combine a ruleset with an existing audience:

1. Go to Integration > Audiences.

2. Click Add Audience.
   The Build tab displays.

3. Enter a unique Audience name.

4. Select the platform: Android or iOS.

5. [Optional] Select Advanced settings to select the user identifier:
   • [Default] Device ID: evaluates rules by device 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.
6. Click Existing audience, then select the specific audience.
7. Select an operator: and, or, exclude.

Limitations:

• The existing audience must be on the same platform (such as iOS or Android) as the new audience.
• An audience that is based on an existing audience can’t be included.
• An imported audience can’t be included.

The Connections tab displays all your partner connections and the status of each. All the information needed to upload audience data to a media partner is specified in a partner connection. You can have multiple connections for a single media partner (using different accounts, login information, etc.).

To create a new connection:

1. Go to Integration > Audiences > Connections.
2. Click + New connection.
   Note: If you are creating a new partner connection from within the audience builder, click on + Add partner connection within the Manage audience connections window.
3. Select a Partner name.
4. Enter a Connection name.
5. Complete the required fields/login information for the partner. Some partners have detailed instructions about how to connect. 
6. Select the user identifiers that you authorize for sharing with this partner. 
   • Supported identifiers vary by partner. Only those identifiers supported by the selected partner will appear in the list.
   • Only identifiers that comply with your account-level user identifier policy will be uploaded. You will see a caution message if you select an identifier that is disallowed by your account policy.
     

     

7. Click Save. 

1. Select a partner.
2. Select a connection.

   

3. Take any of the following actions:

metrics hash

Campaign metrics basics

The Campaign metrics section of the Audiences dashboard displays data for campaigns that used an audience for targeting (whether for inclusion, exclusion, or as the basis of a lookalike audience).

• Using an audience for targeting (and deciding how it is used) is part of setting up campaigns with media partners. Media partners vary in their support for how audiences can be used.

Supported partners: Currently, data is available for Meta ads, Google Ads, and Snapchat. The Campaign metrics section of the dashboard is visible only if you have audiences connected to supported partners.

To view Campaign metrics:

1. Scroll to the far right of the Audiences dashboard to make the Campaign metrics section fully visible.
2. Use the date picker to select the timeframe for which you want to display data. (By default, the dashboard displays data for the past 7 days.)

To download Campaign metrics for the selected timeframe:

1. Click the Export button at the top of the Audiences dashboard.
2. Once the file has been generated, it downloads automatically.

Summary view

The initial Campaign metrics view displays summary campaign data for each audience:

Detailed view

From the summary view, click on the icon to enter the detailed view for the selected audience. (The  icon appears at the far right of a row when you place your mouse anywhere on that row.)

The detailed view displays data broken down by supported partner and campaign:

If the selected audience was used to target more than one app, use the drop-down list  to filter the data by app.

Click the Overview dashboard link to view the campaigns on the Overview dashboard:

• The dashboard will open in a new browser tab, automatically filtered by the relevant campaigns.
• If the Overview dashboard link is disabled, you can enable it by selecting a single app from the drop-down list . Once the link is enabled, clicking it will take you to the Overview dashboard for the selected app.

Data sources and availability

It's easier to understand the availability of Campaign metrics data when we take a look at where the data comes from:

• Partner data: Since you select the audience(s) to be targeted by specific campaigns through your media partners, only these partners are able to provide certain information:
  • The connection of an audience to a campaign (in other words, the fact that a particular audience was used for targeting by that campaign)
  • The number of unique users per day who saw ads from the campaign ("daily reach")
• AppsFlyer data: Cost and revenue data is provided by AppsFlyer.

• Windows Phone is 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.
• Within rulesets, in-app events are limited to 100 unique values per attribute. For example, if the event is "purchase" and the attribute is "content-type" there can only be 100 (or fewer) possible content types. However, numeric values are unlimited. If more values per attribute are required, contact your CSM or send an email to hello@AppsFlyer.com.
• Clicks and impressions data only contains devices that 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 click data for audiences.
• Only integer (whole) numbers are supported in numeric ruleset filters. Float type (decimal) numbers are not supported. Example: In-app revenue is equal to $1 USD is supported but $1.5 USD is not.
• 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 imported audiences with other audiences or rulesets.
• Download file size is limited to 5 million records.
• Google Ads: UAC campaigns aren't supported. Other campaign types are supported. 
• Event reports by S2S must have a user identifier of CUID according to the ruleset.
• Audiences that are inactive will be paused. This means that they will no longer be calculated or uploaded to connected partners. The audience can always be "unpaused" by clicking Upload now. This will resume audience calculations and automatic uploads to partners as before.