Seeing zeros and nulls for fine and coarse conversion values? Don’t panic!
Silicon Valley, we have a problem. Adoption of SKAdNetwork (SKAN) 4.0 has been on the up and up, but a new bug related to conversion values has come to light. This bug has resulted in some major super publishers and ad networks temporarily rolling back to signing ads with SKAN v3 signatures.
Let’s quickly unpack the details and what you need to know.
Conversion value bug details
Apple Search Ads (ASA) and specifically the AdServices framework, which replaced the iAd framework, has been identified as the source of the issue. While ASA inventory is SKAN eligible, ASA performance is not available in any SKAN reporting. This functionality is made possible through calls made by measurement partners or any software development kit (SDK) to the AdServices framework to retrieve an attribution token that provides campaign measurement outcomes for ASA.
The problem particularly arises if the ASA attribution token is retrieved any time following a previous conversion update. In such cases, it will cause a reset of any conversion values (fine and coarse) that have been recorded by calls made to the updatePostbackConversionValue method. Essentially, this causes a race condition whereby the conversion value could be reset if the ASA attribution token collection takes place closer to the postback than the last conversion update within the current postback window.
Kochava is in communication with Apple, as well as media partners in Kochava’s SKAdNetwork Certified Partner Program who have begun running on SKAN 4. It should be noted that this is a small segment of overall media partners, as SKAN 4 adoption is still low.
We’ve got you covered
Thankfully, as a marketer utilizing Kochava, you do not need to do anything at this time. While the Kochava iOS SDK is capable of regathering the ASA attribution token at 24-hour intervals, Kochava’s ability to dynamically configure the SDK allows us to modify SDK behavior in real time to disable regathering the ASA attribution token without an SDK update. As such, our engineering team has deployed a rapid server-side update to work around this bug, which will resolve this issue irrespective of how long it takes Apple to correct this. No iOS SDK update is required for clients to benefit from this server-side update.
Bear in mind that if other SDKs (or your app code) collect the ASA attribution token at any time, the conversion value will be reset outside of the Kochava SDK’s control.
Steps for clients using server-to-server integration
The Kochava iOS SDK provides out-of-the-box support for the AdServices framework. If you chose to integrate with Kochava via our server-to-server integration option, you might have integrated directly with the AdServices framework in order to gather ASA attribution data.
If you’re directly integrated with the AdServices framework, we recommend reviewing your app code and other 3rd party SDKs to ensure that collection of the ASA attribution token happens only upon first app launch and not again thereafter.
Need support or have questions?
Our team is here to help. Please contact your client success manager or email Support@Kochava.com if you have any questions.
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