FAN and AppsFlyer have come together to provide campaign-level in-app advertising ROAS measurement

By Gal Brill

The Gaming market is booming.

eMarketer predicts that the US market for in-game advertising across all devices will exceed $3 billion this year alone, with mobile comprising 47% of that spend.

All trends are leaning towards significant growth for in-app advertising (IAA). In some Gaming sub-categories, like hyper-casual games, IAA can even account for 100% of their revenue.

Greater transparency into in-app revenue is thus becoming essential for gaming optimization success.

Today, we are thrilled to announce a partnership between Facebook Audience Network and AppsFlyer, bringing a first-to-market campaign-level return on advertising spend (ROAS) measurement solution to gaming app developers.

Tying the revenue generated by a cohort of users from Facebook Audience Network to the user acquisition source will allow app developers to more precisely optimize their user acquisition strategy, improving ROAS and LTV accuracy.

This cycle between monetization and user acquisition can be referred to as “completing the growth loop” for every gaming developer; and as we see a surge in gaming engagement, this solution is key for Gaming UA and monetization managers alike. It’s also inevitable that both user acquisition and monetization teams will need to optimize their strategies together to achieve real success.

FAN Campaign-level iAA ROAS Measurement solution — The growth loop: connecting the dots between monetization and user acquisition

While one team handles bringing in quality users, the other focuses on providing a more ideal experience for those users, which usually leads to more revenue for the app developer. That revenue then gets reinvested to again bring high-quality users to the app.

This process is best described as a loop, since one directly impacts the success of the other and the success of both directly impacts the profit of the gaming app.

In the past, ad networks only provided eCPM averages at differing levels of granularity. In this scenario, revenue could still be used as an indicator in measuring ROAS and building LTV models to a certain extent, but those weren’t as precise, which in some cases might lead to less informed decisions that affect publishers’ margins.

Without granular insight at a campaign level, ad revenue from monetization networks can only be tied back to the user acquisition campaign through heuristic calculations. These estimates cause gaming advertisers to make decisions with incomplete data, because frankly, it’s the only option advertisers have had.

To take it to the next level, Facebook Audience Network and AppsFlyer have come together to provide Campaign-Level IAA ROAS Measurement

Mat Harris, Facebook Audience Network Director of Product Management, had a few words to say on this:

”Our new campaign-level measurement solution, developed in collaboration with MMP partner, AppsFlyer, fulfills a critical gap in the market by helping advertisers on our platform truly understand if their return on ad spend is both accurate and profitable.”

This new Facebook API allows for more accurately measuring the ad revenue generated by cohorts of acquired users, eliminating the need for any heuristic calculation.

While having a strong monetization strategy to optimize for the success of the ads shown within these apps is important, without understanding the true value of the users who install the app to begin with, the full cycle of optimization is incomplete. Sharing this insight with both the user acquisition teams and monetization teams will allow both to optimize towards the same goal: positive ROAS.

In-app advertising in itself can be a very lucrative revenue stream for gaming apps, resulting in greater insight to allow for optimization, which is critical and should become the industry standard.

AppsFlyer is in a unique position to connect the dots between the monetization network, the user acquisition channel and the mobile attribution data.

By having the attribution data, using the device IDs coming from installs, AppsFlyer is the only player that can properly tie back the revenue generated to the user acquisition network.

Harris continued:

“With measurement being the precursor to optimization, together with AppsFlyer, we’ve taken the initiative to create a product that helps game advertisers and publishers understand the effectiveness of the ad campaigns they run on the Audience Network platform. Our new campaign – level measurement solution, developed in collaboration with MMP partner, AppsFlyer, fulfills a critical gap in the market by helping advertisers on our platform truly understand if their return on ad spend is both accurate and profitable. Audience Network is committed to helping game developers build sustainable businesses and this represents another opportunity to provide them with accurate, granular insight and the right tool to grow and improve their business.”

We are thrilled to roll out this collaboration with Facebook Audience Network to bring additional value to our mutual customers. Facebook Audience Network is providing a significant foundation to perform precise optimization for gaming advertisers.

With AppsFlyer as an instrumental attribution measurement partner, gaming developers can leverage their trusted attribution data to more precisely calculate ROAS and the true LTV of their users, and in turn, optimize both their UA and monetization strategies.