At a glance: AdColony, an AppsFlyer ad network integrated partner, is a premium video advertising network, providing advertisers and brands with an engaged and responsive audience and offers monetization solutions to publishers and developers. In addition to click-based mobile attribution, AdColony also offers cost, ad revenue and view-through attribution, which you can record with AppsFlyer.
Setting up AdColony
To access AdColony settings:
- Go to Configuration > Integrated partners.
- Search for AdColony and select it.
- Update settings according to the following instructions.
Integration tab
The Integration Tab is divided into different sections as described below.
Activate partners
The partner must be activated by switching on the Activate partner toggle on the first visit, to enable its setup.
General settings
Enable View-Through attribution
Toggle this ON if you want to attribute view-through installs from AdColony. The view-through lookback slider is available on the Attribution link tab.
Default postbacks
AppsFlyer can send automatic postbacks to AdColony following installs and rejected installs. Use this section to define the source of the users for the postbacks.
Select This partner only for installs coming only from users attributed to AdColony.
Select All sources, including organic to have your entire user base available to be reported to AdColony.
Rejected installs can be sent for This partner only.
Launch postbacks
As of July 1, 2020, we no longer send launch postbacks to AdColony. If your integration was set up prior to this date, there may be changes to your configurations. The following table explains possible changes and your actions, where applicable:
|
Your configuration |
Will be updated to |
Your next actions |
|---|---|---|
|
Send to AdColony all launches (from all media sources, including organic) |
Send to AdColony:
|
No further actions required. This update has no actual impact on the configuration. |
|
Send to AdColony attributed first launches only |
Send to AdColony installs attributed to AdColony only |
If you wish to send
|
|
Send to AdColony all launches (from all media sources, including organic) BUT No conversions have been attributed to AdColony in the 3 months prior to July 1, 2020 |
Send all installs AND For 30 days after July 1, 2020, all launches |
If you wish to send
If done during the 30 days period, we will discontinue sending all launches and start sending all If done after the 30 days period, we will stop sending launches and won't send |
In-app events settings
In this section, you can configure in-app event postbacks that are sent to AdColony.
To configure in-app event postbacks:
- Activate In-app event postbacks
- Click Add event to add an SDK Event to the list
-
Parameter name Description SDK event name The name of the event, as received by AppsFlyer either from the SDK, or from server-to-server events.
Tip: If you don't see the event you want in the list, activate this event on a device with a non-organic installation and recheck.Partner event identifier The unique name or ID of each event as defined on the partner's side. Select the most suitable pre-defined event for your SDK event. Sending option Select the sending option for the event:
This partner only for events coming only from users attributed to AdColony.
All sources, including organic to have your entire user base available to be reported to the partnerSend event data - No values & no revenue: sends only the event itself without the event value.
- Values & no revenue: sends all the parameters excluding the revenue value.
- Values & revenue: sends all the event parameters, including the revenue value (if exists in the event).
- Click Save.
Attribution link tab
This tab is divided into different sections:
Attribution link parameters
In this section, select which parameters you want to add to the attribution link.
Adding parameters to the attribution link here enables you to later perform thorough drill-down analyses. Parameters that are already defined on the attribution link can be edited by adding them and their new values here.
- Campaign - add it to compare different campaigns running with AdColony.
Attribution link parameter: c - Adset - set ad set names to compare different ad sets within specific AdColony campaigns.
Attribution link parameter: af_adset - Ad Name - set ad set names to compare different creatives within specific ad sets within specific campaigns AdColony.
Attribution link parameter: af_ad - Site ID and Sub Site ID - set Site ID parameter to attribute installs to specific publishers. If many publishers exist, we advise on limiting the number of used site IDs and using the sub site ID parameter, to avoid exceeding the site ID limitations.
Attribution link parameters: af_siteid and af_sub_siteid - Subscriber Parameters - use any of the 5 subscriber parameters to insert useful values. Note that these parameters get parsed and appear in the raw data report, which makes them very handy for performing data aggregation or filtering.
Attribution link parameters: af_sub1, af_sub2, af_sub3, af_sub4, af_sub5
Add any other parameter to the attribution link simply by typing it in a new parameter box. For more information about AppsFlyer's Attribution Link Structure and Parameters.
Click-through attribution
This slider allows you to set the maximum time from click to install. Only installs (first launches) that take place within the lookback window may be attributed to AdColony.
Attribution link parameter: af_click_lookback
More details about the click lookback window here.
Click attribution link
This is the attribution link that contains all the setup information you have set for it. Send it to AdColony to be activated when leads click on a corresponding ad.
View-through attribution lookback window
This slider allows you to set the maximum time from impression to install. Only installs (first launches) that take place within this lookback window, following an ad impression, are attributed to AdColony, providing there was no other relevant ad click.
You can customize this value to 1-23 hours or 1-7 days.
Attribution link parameter: af_viewthrough_lookback
More details about the view-through attribution here.
Impressions attribution link
The impression attribution link contains similar attribution data to the click recording link (besides the different lookback window). Send it to AdColony to be activated when a corresponding ad is watched.
Read more about how AdColony defines clicks and views.
Cost tab
This tab allows you to enrich your AdColony attribution data with the relevant cost data.
Before you enable cost data integration with AdColony, make sure to get your AdColony API Key.
Enabling and testing AdColony cost integration
- Go to the Cost tab.
- Enter your AdColony API Key
- Click on Test Connection
- If the API Key is valid, you should see the message API Key Verified
- If the API Key is invalid, you should see the message Invalid Credentials - make sure that you are using the correct API Key
- If the cost endpoint is down or there is some network issue, you should see the message "Something went wrong, please try again later"
- If the API Key is valid, Click Save Cost.
Cost data sync status
The cost tab shows the status of your cost integration and the last time AppsFlyer managed to pull matching cost data.
The table below describes five different status messages, and what to do if you see them in the cost tab.
| Status Message | Description | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
|
Active
|
Partner API is responding and returning data. |
Nothing |
|
Active
With sync message: Cost Data was never successfully pulled
|
One of the following is possible:
|
|
|
No Matching Data
|
AppsFlyer queries this app's active campaigns with the Partner API, but the partner API isn't returning any data for these campaigns. |
This might happen if you change the campaign ID while it is still running.
If you rely on cost data, do not change the IDs of campaigns while they are still active and running.
Also, make sure you entered the API credentials for the correct app, and that the network is passing the correct campaign IDs on the attribution link. |
|
Partner API is not responding |
The ad network cost data API is either down or experiencing issues. |
Wait for the network API to become responsive. |
|
Invalid Credentials
|
Cost API credentials are incorrect. AppsFlyer in unable to pull cost data. |
Make sure that the cost API key is correct. |
Last successful data pull
The cost tab shows the last time cost data has been pulled yet. If cost data has never been pulled, the sync message shows Cost Data was never successfully pulled.
Examples
Examples
Scenario 1: Stopped campaigns
AppsFlyer pulls cost for several campaigns that you run with ad network A. You look in the cost tab and you see the message Last successful sync 2 hours ago. The same day you stop running campaigns with ad network A. Two weeks later, you look in the cost tab of ad network A. You then see the message Last successful sync 14 days ago.
Scenario 2: Ad network API issues
AppsFlyer pulls cost for several campaigns that you run with ad network B. You look in the cost tab and you see the message Last successful sync 2 hours ago. Ad network B then experiences issues with their API. It takes them a few hours to fix it. When you look in the cost tab you see the message Last successful sync 8 hours ago.
For the full list of partners supporting cost data, click here.
Warning
Once you set AdColony's cost do not change the name of any running campaign, ad set or single ad as it may cause serious discrepancies or missing cost data.
Ad revenue tab
This section is relevant if you are acting as a publisher, displaying ads of the partner to your users. As such, you would certainly like to measure the engagement of your users acquired from different sources, to find the most profitable sources for you.
- Go to the Ad Revenue tab.
- Enable Get Ad Revenue Data.
- Complete the credential fields.
- Click Save Ad Revenue.
- Click Test connection.
- Do one of the following:
- If the message API connection verified displays, you have successfully completed the procedure. AppsFlyer collects the data from the partner once a day.
- If any other message displays, take corrective action in accordance with the status message.
Permissions tab
In this tab, you can select the permissions to grant AdColony, whether the partner acts as an ad network, agency or even both. Note that even if attribution is disabled for AdColony, the permissions tab is active and you can grant control to AdColony.
Use these toggles to give the ad network permissions to handle its own configuration for your app:
Ad network permissions
- Allow to configure integration - permit the partner to setup the integration tab (except in-app event postbacks)
- Allow to configure in-app event postbacks - permit the partner to setup in-app event postbacks mapping to itself on the integration tab
- Allow access to your retention report - only to the partner's own retention data
- Allow access to your aggregate loyal user data - only to the partner's own loyal user data
- Allow access to your aggregate in-app events data - only to the partner's own in-app events data
- Allow access to your aggregate revenue data - only to the revenue data attributed to the partner
- Allow access to your Protect360 dashboard - only to the partner's own Protect360 data, and providing the feature is enabled for the advertiser
Learn more about granting ad network permissions.