Ad revenue attribution guide

Aggregate granularity implementation:

• The network reports by integration the total revenue per day broken down by geo. 
• Appsflyer derives the effective revenue per action (eRPA) by dividing the ad revenue with the number of instances of a trigger event.
• For each instance of the trigger event, AppsFlyer creates a _monetized event, that includes the eRPA. For example, ad_matched_monetized.
• Using eRPA revenue is attributed to media sources.
• You can use one of the following event types: 
  • Unique monetization in-app event requires modifications to the app. 
  • af_app_open_event which is available by default,
• Don't report ad revenue in in-app events. Doing so causes ad revenue to be duplicated in the Dashboard because AppsFlyer gets the revenue data from the monetization network by integration. 

User-level granularity implementation:

This method is the best practice. It provides the greatest level of granularity and ad revenue is attributed without the need to modify the app. Ad revenue is accurately attributed to the UA source. Note: The User-level data used for ad revenue attribution is not available in reports/postbacks. 

Migrating from aggregate granularity to user-level granularity implementation notes

• Migrating does not impact historical ad revenue data. This data remains unchanged.
• User-level granularity does not need in-app events. You can continue sending these events they don't impact the user level granularity reporting in AppsFlyer. 
• Ad revenue data is pulled once a data at 1400 UTC using the granularity options selected at that time.
• If you have implemented in-app events, to identify ad viewing activity, these continue to operate. They do not impact the operation of user-level granularity. 

Before you begin:

• Prepare the app
• Request that the ad revenue integrated partner provide you API credentials.
• If you are implementing User-level revenue attribution with a revenue mediation partner: Disable active ad revenue integrations with partners that report the revenue via the mediation partner. 

To enable ad revenue integration with the ad revenue network:

1. In Appsflyer, go to Configuration > Integrated Partners.
   The Integrated Partner window opens. 
2. Select a partner. Tip: Select Active and Ad revenue to display your existing partners having Ad revenue capabilities. 
3. Select the integrated partner.
   The integrated partner's configuration window opens.
4. Go to Ad Revenue tab, enable Get Ad Revenue Data.
   The API credentials fields are displayed. 
5. Some partners offer User-level and Aggregate granularity. Select one. 
6. Complete the API credentials as provided by the integrated partner. 
7. If you selected Aggregate granularity, complete the app trigger in-app event that represents the ad monetization trigger. This event is usually sent for each ad impression. For example, ad watched or video watches. 
8. Click Save Integration.

App owners may contract with one or more ad monetization networks, either directly or via ad revenue mediation platforms Examples: IronSource, Admob, DoubleClick (DFP). 

If you implement a mediation platform's SDK in the app, this may cause duplicate reporting of revenue. To avoid duplication use the flow chart that follows to identify the appropriate way to integrate monetizing networks and mediation platforms.

AppsFlyer requires these platforms to integrate with it to perform ad monetization recording. You can check if the ad monetization platform you use is integrated with AppsFlyer. 

Admob and Applovin can act as mediation platforms but in AppsFlyer they only report ad revenue generated via Admob or Applovin respectively.

Ad revenue shows the quality of users from different sources over time. As users continue launching the app and engaging with ads, their LTV continues to increase. 

Ad revenue attribution information is available in:

• LTV:
  • Overview dashboard, Aggregated Performance Report table
  • Events dashboard
  • Cohort 
  • Master API: LTV
• Activity: Master API: Activity 

Overview dashboard - aggregated performance report

In the Overview dashboard:

• Values including revenue are LTV See LTV vs. activity data.
• The Revenue column includes all revenue including ad revenue and in-app purchases
• Drill-down into the advertising hierarchy (media source, campaign, ad set, geo) to view the monetized events in the report.

In the Activity dashboard:

• Values including revenue are activity date based. See LTV vs. activity data.
• The Average Actions per User, indicates the tendency of users to engage with the ads presented in the app. 

• Traits:
  • App-specific time-zone: supported
  • App-specific currency: supported
  • Agencies: Agencies are not able to access the ad revenue configurations
  • Organic: supported
  • Non-organic: supported
  • Pulling historical data: Data is updated for the current day

• Limitations:
  • Ad revenue events are not available in the following:
    • Raw Data reports
    • In-app event postbacks 
    • Push API
    • Retargeting dashboard
  • Additional limitations for user-level granularity:
  • The af_ad_revenue event is not available for cohorts in Pivot and Master API. 
  • The event is available in Cohort analytics.

Three users install an app on December 31, 2017. They are attributed as follows:

• User A: Network A
• User B: Network B
• User C: Organic

The app is integrated with five different monetization platforms. Each platform uses a unique in-app event using the AppsFlyer SDK as follows:

• Facebook Audience Network: fb_ad_view
• Chartboost: chartboost_ad_view
• Admob: admob_ad_view
• Applovin: applovin_ad_view
• IronSource: is_ad_view

After the install for a period of four days, the users are shown ads, as follows:

If we look at the data we can summarize the revenue collected per day and the generated in-app events. This gives the eventual revenue per event which is then distributed to each user:

Understanding the Reports:

As mentioned, ad revenue is tied to the user LTV. As a result, the time period you select in the Dashboard represents the cohort of installs for which the revenue is aggregated up until the current time and day. Let’s examine the report from two different date selection and understand the reporting.

Aggregate Report - Date Selected: 2018-12-31, current day 2018-01-05

In this case the cohort is the install date and the current day is 2018-01-05. All the revenue generated is tied back to the acquiring source and represented under the user’s LTV.

How can I get the total ad revenue from each platform?

• Ad revenue attribution is linked and displays in relation to the user acquisition source.
• This provides the LTV view of your ROI and KPIs.
• To view the total revenue from each monetization platform use a different in-app event for each network and use the following procedure:
  1. In the Overview dashboard, go to the aggregated performance report table.
  2. Select up to four monetized events representing the platforms you want to query. 

     

  3. Download the report by, click Export CSV.

  4. Sum up the Revenue column of the requested platform's monetized event
     

     

Note that this total ad revenue is LTV data, i.e. it's the entire revenue generated by a monetizing network for your app from users, who installed during the specified date range.

Is there ad revenue data in the activity page?

Yes!

The Activity page reports on the combined revenue from in-app purchases and ad revenue. Note: Ad revenue data is sent to AppsFlyer on a daily basis, the day following the event. This means that in the Activity dashboard ad revenue data is assigned to the following day. 

Do I need to activate the partner in the Integration tab?

• If you engage with the partner for ad monetization (ad revenue) only: don't enable Activate Partner in the integration tab. 
• Enable only Get Ad Revenue data in the Ad Revenue tab.