Mobile Attribution for Connected TV (CTV) FAQ

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 conversions that result from these ads.

The typical use case for CTV attribution is as follows.

1. The advertiser creates an ad campaign for a mobile app.
2. A CTV-enabled network partner serves the ads on a TV streaming service.
3. End-users watch the ad on their Smart TV.
4. End-users use their mobile device to download and install (or open, for re-engagements) the app.
5. Singular measures the number of installs or re-engagements 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 and re-engagements 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 to support CTV 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:
  • Enable the CTV measurement option
  • Review the following attribution windows and settings:
    • CTV View-through probabilistic install window (defaulted to 24 hours)
    • (If re-engagement is enabled) View-through probabilistic re-engagement window
    • Prioritize CTV impression in attribution decision (defaulted to "O" meaning it will be considered in the attribution decisioning as "view-through probabilistic" - see here.)
      • Modifying this between 1 - 24 hours will treat the view-through probabilistic impression the same priority as a deterministic click.
  • Provide your CTV partner with the view-through tracking link. The click-through tracking link does not support CTV attribution.
  • Make sure that your postback configuration is set to send view-through attributed installs (and re-engagements, if necessary)  to the partner.
  • 

The networks that currently support Singular's solution for CTV are:

• AppLovin
• Moloco
• Mooko Media
• Smadex
• The Trade Desk
• TVScientific
• Verve
• Vibe
• VDX
• YouAppi
• Unity CTV
• AdTiming
• Dataseat

• Each CTV ad impression can only result in one attributed install or re-engagement.
• 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. 

The lookback window is a setting that determines how far back Singular searches for the touchpoint that led to an install or re-engagement event. Read more about attribution windows here.

The default lookback window when using probablistic attribution methods for CTV impressions is 24 hours, but you can set a custom window of 1-72 hours for each of your Singular tracking links (only for partners that support CTV). 

To determine attribution, Singular prioritizes touchpoints according to its type (click/impression) and the level of reliability (deterministic/probabilistic). Read more about touchpoint prioritization here.

CTV touchpoints are probabilistic impressions, placing them in the lowest priority in the attribution decision.
You can choose to prioritize CTV touchpoints same as the highest priority - deterministic click. 
As the The accuracy of the probabilistic device match decays over time and drastically after 24 hours, the prioritization in the attribution decision is limited in time, up to 24 h from the time of the impression.

By default the CTV priority increase is off, but you can enable it for each of your Singular tracking links (only for partners that support CTV).