Singular now supports CTV to mobile app attribution, meaning measuring the performance of ads that promote mobile apps and are served on streaming content on a Smart TV.
Mobile app attribution for CTV, or CTV-to-mobile attribution, means measuring the performance of ads that promote mobile apps and that are being served on streaming content on a Smart TV.
If you advertise your mobile apps on OTT (over-the-top television, meaning TV content served over the internet), Singular can measure the mobile app installs that result from these ads.
The typical use case for CTV attribution is as follows.
- The advertiser creates an ad campaign for a mobile app.
- A CTV-enabled network partner serves the ads on a TV streaming service.
- End-users watch the ad on their Smart TV.
- End-users use their mobile device to download and install the app.
- Singular measures the number of installs connected to the ad viewing.
There are different ways to measure the performance of an ad across platforms. Singular's CTV attribution offering relies on devices in the same household commonly using the same IP address. This lets Singular measure the ad view on the television and connect it to mobile app installs that use the same IP address.
For media partners:
- Your integration needs to be enabled by Singular to support CTV inventory.
- Your integration must also share the following information on the impression URL/request:
- IP address (ip= parameter, X-Forwarded-For HTTP header)
- User agent (ua= parameter, User-Agent HTTP header) or p=ctv, allowing Singular to identify the CTV impression
Important: Even if your current integration with Singular supports passing IP address and the user agent of the device, Singular will not attribute CTV inventory unless your integration has been enabled for this attribution in our system.
For advertisers:
To use CTV attribution as an advertiser, you need the following:
- A CTV-enabled network partner. Some Singular partners support CTV already, and others may support it in the future.
- A CTV-enabled Singular Link. When creating a link, make it a view-through (impression) link, enable the CTV option, and set the View-through probabilistic install window to 24 hours. (Click-through links do not support CTV attribution.) Make sure that your postback configuration is set to send view-through attributed installs to the partner.
Notes:
- You can use the same impression link for both CTV and mobile advertising. For example, if you create a campaign for your mobile game, you can run it on your network partner's Samsung TV app as well as your partner's iOS and Android mobile apps.
- A "p=" parameter may be present on the impression URL and is used to help Singular identify the platform the impression is served on to enable the correct attribution method. Ensure that only the following supported values are used: "iOS","Android","ctv"
- If the impression link is served on CTV, Singular measures it through IP-based attribution only when there is no device ID present on the tracking link. If the link is served on a mobile device, Singular uses standard attribution methods and would expect to receive a device ID (when possible).
The networks that currently support Singular's solution for CTV are:
- AppLovin
- Moloco
- Smadex
- The Trade Desk
- TVScientific
- Verve
- Vibe
- VDX
- CTV attribution only supports mobile app installs. (Support for attributing re-engagement attributions is coming soon.)
- Each CTV ad impression can only result in one attributed install.
- If an ad impression is subject to CCPA (California law) then the user agent will not be available because of compliance reasons. Integrated partners are responsible for complying with data privacy laws.
- Campaigns served on Smart TV are platform-agnostic, as the end-user's mobile device may be either iOS or Android. In terms of Singular reporting, this means there is no platform/OS data on the network side in Singular's analytics integrations pulling in cost data. If you run a report with ad views as well as app installs, you cannot break it down by platform (for an explanation of network vs. tracker data, see Understanding Singular Reporting Data).
- What data can I expect to get from a CTV partner? Review our integration instructions for CTV partners or ad networks enabling CTV inventory.
