Troubleshooting Discrepancies between Singular Reports and Ad Network Dashboard

If you notice that the data you see in Singular reports does not match the data in your ad network's dashboard, here's a step-by-step guide for pinpointing the source of the discrepancy. Make sure to read the Reports FAQ first.

When you notice a discrepancy between the data in Singular reports and the data in your network dashboard, check the following possible causes:

Is Singular pulling data from the ad network successfully?

First, check the data connector status:

1. In Singular, go to Settings > Data Connectors.
2. Find the appropriate data connector in the table. Note that you may have more than one data connector for the same ad network (see the Data Connectors FAQ for more information).
3. Check that the status light is Green (active).
   

Check if there is an Action Required icon for the data connector. If there is, check the message.

See also: What do I do in case of login issues?

If you find a connection issue, such as a login problem, and solve it, Singular will connect to the network and pull the data. Check back to the Data Connectors page to see when the data pull is completed.

Is it just one metric that’s different than expected, or all the data?

If the problem is with one specific metric, e.g. Installs, here are two possible causes:

Are you comparing the right field?

There may be a significant gap between data (such as installs) reported by the attribution tracker and data reported by the ad network. Singular can show data from either. Make sure you are comparing your ad network dashboard data to ad network metrics in Singular.

In the Singular web platform, there are several ways to do this:

• In the Singular report page, hover over a row in the report. Tags will appear in each cell, saying whether it’s tracker data, network data, or other.

  

• You can also choose explicitly whether you want to see network or tracker data for certain metrics in your report. In the Reports page, when selecting metrics, select a metric from the "Source Metrics" section, e.g. Network Installs instead of Installs.

  

• If you are using the Singular Reporting API, add discrepancy_metrics to your query. See the API Reference for more information.

• If you use the Test Report functionality in the Data Connectors page (the Run Test Report icon), the test report always shows ad network data (rather than tracker data). See the Data Connectors FAQ for more information.

Is Singular applying any calculations to the ad network data?

Fields such as Cost in your Singular report may not be showing the cost as pulled from the ad network, but rather the result of a certain calculation on that number.

To check:

• Under Settings, go to CPI Configuration and Partner Fees -- these pages show two types of possible manipulations performed on the Cost metric. See the CPI documentation and the Partner Fees documentation to learn more.
• Even if there are no CPI or Partner Fees applied to your data, some other calculation may be taking place. Hover over the data in your report and look for the “Mixed” or “Custom” tag (instead of the “Network” tag which tells you that the number is pulled directly from the network).

To look at the original cost metric pulled from the network, add the metric Original Cost to your report query.

Is the data in Singular up to date?

Singular usually pulls data from a data source once a day. If the pull was hours ago, the ad network data might have been updated in the meantime, and this is reflected in the ad network dashboard but not reflected in Singular yet (see the Data Connectors FAQ for more information).

To check, in the Singular platform, go to Data Connectors and find the data connector in the table. Check the Last Updated time. If you have more than one data connector for the same network, make sure you are comparing the right one.

Does the problem exist in the raw data pulled from the network?

The data you see in Singular reports is the result of several data processing steps performed by Singular on the data pulled from the ad network. For example, Singular converts currencies, maps campaign data to apps and platforms when possible, and combines ad network data with data from the attribution tracker.

In cases of data discrepancies, you may want to take a look at the raw data, the way it looked right when Singular pulled it from the ad network, to see if the problem already existed at that stage.

To see the raw data:

1. In Singular, go to Settings > Data Connectors.
2. Find the appropriate data connector in the table.
3. Click the Export Raw Data CSV icon.

If the raw data does not contain the discrepancy, this tells you the discrepancy is caused by the processing or the way you are querying the data. Check out the steps below for some possible causes.

Are you looking at the same date range?

Double-check that your ad network report and your Singular report are querying the same dates and using the same cohort periods.

Timezone issues: The ad network may provide Singular with data from a different timezone than the one they show you in their dashboard. This can cause minor discrepancies when comparing a specific day in Singular to the same day in the network dashboard.

D0 reports: Some networks may refer to the day of install as D0, and offer optimization for D0, D3, D7, and D30. Singular refers to the day of install as D1, so when matching data with these networks, you should compare D1, D4, D8, and D31 optimizations respectively in Singular.

Are any filters applied to your report?

If you are using the Singular API, check your query to make sure you have not applied any filters that are causing the discrepancy.

If you are using the Reports page in the Singular platform, make sure you have not selected any filters in the report query.