AdColony campaign configuration

Introduction

AdColony, one of AppsFlyer's integrated partners, 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.

To configure your campaigns with AdColony, follow the steps below.

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:

all installs (from all media sources, including organic)
all af_app_opened events (from all media sources, including organic)

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 af_app_open events as well:

In AppsFlyer, on AdColony integration page, configure sending the event under the In-app event postbacks section

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 af_app_open events as well:

In AppsFlyer, on AdColony integration page, configure sending the event under the In-app event postbacks section.

If done during the 30 days period, we will discontinue sending all launches and start sending all af_app_open events instead.

If done after the 30 days period, we will stop sending launches and won't send af_app_open events until configured otherwise.

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 partner
Send 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

In this tab, you can create the attribution links you want to send to AdColony for attributing AdColony's campaigns, ad sets or even single ads. Note that AppsFlyer DOES NOT save your generated partner's attribution links.

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: You just set up the integration and AppsFlyer have yet to pull data. There is no data in AppsFlyer about installs coming from the ad network.	Wait for AppsFlyer to pull data. Start running campaigns with the ad network.
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

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:
1. If the message API connection verified displays, you have successfully completed the procedure. AppsFlyer collects the data from the partner once a day.
2. 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.

Introduction

Setting up AdColony