Here’s a primer to bring you up to speed on what SKADNetwork is, how it will work and what to watch out for as the due date gets closer.

WTF is SKADNetwork?

In short, SKADNetwork is Apple’s privacy-friendly way to attribute impressions and clicks to app installs on iOS apps. It shares conversion data with advertisers without revealing any user-level or device-level data. Think of it like the marketer’s equivalent of being in the friend zone with an unrequited crush. There’s a lot they would like to do in the SKADNetwork that they can’t — i.e. granular tracking.

“It’s encouraging to see recent updates such as 2.2 that have introduced more features such as view-through support,” said Lloyd Greenfield, senior client partner at The Programmatic Advisory. “I’m aware that we won’t get the same level of detail that ID-based tracking provided, but I’m hopeful that we will see more updates to SKADNetwork that enable features that get us closer to it.”

How does SKADNetwork work?

Essentially, it works like a mini walled garden. The attribution process happens within the App Store before being verified on Apple’s servers. From there, the data is cleansed of anything that could compromise a person’s identity before being shared with the ad networks for ad execs to access. The limitations are intentional from Apple.

Limitations?

Where to start. The limitations baked into SKADNetwork are as intricate as they are deliberate. Ad Monsters has broken them down here, but here’s an overview of where the pain points are. Not only is the data from SKADNetwork aggregated, there’s no direct access to it given it’s owned and reported by the ad networks. This affects everything from being able to optimize campaigns in real-time to a lack of detail on how well ads have performed, while also raising questions about the veracity of the data given there’s a chance it could be manipulated by shady ad networks that are essentially marking their own homework once they get the data from SKADNetwork.

How should marketers move forward?

It comes down to having to set up new processes to keep in lockstep with how Apple’s framework functions. From the practicalities of gathering SKADNetwork data from different ad networks tied to various parts of the ad tech supply chain to the intricacies of validating all this data, marketers must rethink how they collect, verify and process data from their mobile app campaigns on iOS devices.

What about app publishers?

Be prepared. There’s a chance that SKADNetwork could account for the majority, or the only thing, …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron