VK Ads (myTarget, Mail.ru) campaign configuration

For:
Marketers
Last update:

At a glance: VK Ads is a mobile advertising platform aimed at connecting advertisers with Russian-speaking mobile users. With VK Ads advertisers can place targeted advertising in social networks (Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Moi Mir) and the Mail.Ru Group. In addition to click-based mobile attribution, VK Ads also offers retargeting attribution.

Setting up VK Ads

Prerequisite: Before setting up the integration, make sure you contact the partner and open an account with them.

To activate or edit the integration:

  1. To activate: In AppsFlyer, from the side menu, select Collaborate > Partner Marketplace.
    To edit: In AppsFlyer, from the side menu, select Collaborate > Active Integrations.
  2. Search for the partner and select it.
  3. Click Set up integration. You’re directed to the integration setup page.
  4. In the Integration tab, turn on Activate partner.
    Note: The toggle must stay on (activated) for as long as you work with the partner.
  5. Complete the configuration using the relevant tabs, as described below.

The VK Ads configuration window includes 4 active tabs: Integration, Attribution link, Cost, and Permissions. Click on the items below to read about the tabs setup.

For a detailed description of the Partner Configuration Window Header, click here.

 Tip

  • The General Settings step in the Integration tab is mandatory for all partners
  • All the rest of the steps are either descriptive or optional

Integration tab

Activate partners

On the first visit here, you will need to toggle ON the Activate Partner button to enable the setup of the integration tab's parameters. The toggle MUST be ON for as long as you work with the partner.
For more details about partner activation please click here.

General settings

The following general settings are available for VK Ads.

App ID

This field is not mandatory, and its functionality is TBD. For any further questions, contact VK Ads.

Enable view-through attribution

Activate, if you want to attribute view-through installs from Reddit. The view-through lookback slider is available in the Attribution link tab.

Default postbacks

Send automatic postbacks to VK Ads following user installs and re-engagements. Use this section to define the source of the users that allow sending these postbacks.

Select Only events attributed to this partner for events coming only from users attributed to VK Ads.
Select Events attributed to any partner or organic to have your entire user base available to be reported to VK Ads.

In-app events postbacks

In this section, you can configure in-app event postbacks that are sent to VK Ads.

  1. Activate In-app event postbacks
  2. Choose whether to report selected events to the partner, or all of them.
    • Note: If you choose to report all events, the af_app_opened event is not reported.
  3. If you choose to manually select events, click Add event to add an SDK Event to the list.
  4. Complete the following parameters:
    Parameter name Description
    SDK event name (required for manual selection only) 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.
    Sending option Select the sending option for the event:
    This partner only for events coming only from users attributed to VK Ads.
    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).
  5. Click Save.

Attribution link tab

Generate and save attribution links and send them to the partner for attributing specific campaigns, ad sets, or single ads - both for UA and retargeting campaigns. You can use either a single-platform link or a OneLink.
Learn more about attribution link structure and parameters.

To generate an attribution link, follow these instructions. 

Note: OneLinks are not supported by VK Ads. Use standard attribution links for retargeting.

Cost tab

AppsFlyer gets cost details by API. See the ad network cost integration table for full details on the supported dimensions, metrics, and features. Note: Cost data requires an ROI360 subscription.

To enable the cost API:

Cost data sync status

View your cost API status and the last time AppsFlyer managed to pull matching cost data in either the cost (and ad revenue) integration status dashboard, or in the individual ad network dashboard.

Removing connected accounts

To delete a connected account:

 Notes

  1. To support cost with VK Ads the advertiser must add the Campaign ID to the link af_c_id=.
  2. Once you set VK Ads cost, do not change the name of any active campaign, asset, or single ad, nor use dynamic macros with the campaign name parameter, as they can cause serious discrepancies or missing cost data.

Ad revenue tab

Ad Revenue data is not supported by VK Ads.

Permissions tab

In this tab, you can select the permissions to grant VK Ads, whether the partner acts as an ad network, agency, or even both. Note that even if attribution is disabled for VK Ads, the permissions tab is active and you can grant control to VK Ads.

Use these toggles to give the ad network permissions to handle its own configuration for your app:

  • Allow to configure integration - permit the partner to set up the integration tab (except in-app event postbacks)
  • Allow to configure in-app event postbacks - permit the partner to set up 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.