Facebook’s announcement of view-through attribution (VTA) is the culmination of testing done with Kochava and other major mobile analytic and attribution platforms.
Over a series of weeks earlier in the year, Facebook tested VTA with Kochava, resulting in the successful release of the powerful impression measurement tool across the Facebook platform. Prior to their announcement, Facebook tracked their own impressions, clicks and installs but did not release impression data for mobile industry specialists like Kochava. Facebook’s more open adoption of VTA gives advertisers greater insight into ad campaigns run on the social media platform and also the ability to compare Facebook campaign data with those run on other ad networks.
Historically, VTA is a measurement tool that uses data about ads served by ad networks and includes impressions, clicks and installs. Kochava developed the tool two years ago in response to demand from bigger advertisers. VTA is considered the final piece to completely understand the user acquisition path because it allows advertisers to gain full insight into the impressions that are influencing user behavior.
Facebook’s sharing of the feature provides increased transparency into ad campaigns run on the social media app. Previously, VTA had been available through other networks, but the only trackable data Facebook provided were clicks and installs. Advertisers could see the number of impressions served on Facebook but could not align their numbers with their Kochava data, which only had clicks and installs from the network. Having the ability to compare impressions served on Facebook gives advertisers a fuller picture of their ad campaigns. Advertisers can more accurately compare their campaign activity on Facebook with other networks and recognize where they are gaining the most traction in the absence a click on an ad creative.
“In a campaign, there are always a certain number of installs that are unattributed, but nothing is truly organic. Now, with Facebook’s inclusion of VTA, we can show a more thorough perspective of a user’s conversion path. The more an advertiser can identify where and when impressions are served, the more precise a picture they get, providing a fuller understanding of what drove their user activity,” said Eric Mann, Director of Product Engineering at Kochava.
Kochava, an integrated Facebook Mobile Measurement Partner, was asked to be part of the VTA testing. Testing took place over the course of several weeks this past summer, running traffic on some of the largest ad campaigns in the world. Kochava developers and account managers provided feedback to Facebook about the fidelity of the impression data that was successfully received. The process occurs in milliseconds, and consists of a secure signal that Kochava sends and Facebook reciprocates with which installs are attributed to impressions.
VTA with Facebook confirms the maturation and evolution of the app ecosystem. As brands and advertisers become more reliant on tangible data to validate their strategies, the value of VTA and impression tracking are becoming core, essential components to understand and engage in the user journey. The selection of Kochava as a partner for testing VTA further shows them as a trusted source for data verification and testing for tech giants as they adapt to changes in the ecosystem.
“We’re proud that networks like Facebook can come to us and test their integration here,” Mann said. “It shows a level of trust and also how we stand in the industry—that we’re one of the ones big networks come to when advancing the ecosystem.”
