Attribution waterfall evolution for video ad engagement
Starting September 19, Kochava is offering an open beta where select advertisers can enable new attribution match types for Meta and TikTok for Business. The introduction of engaged view and engaged click as ad engagement types in the attribution waterfall enables marketers to get the most accurate attribution data amid a growing spectrum of video ad formats and interactive ad experiences. As not all impressions and clicks are created equal, giving credit where credit is due is the ultimate goal.
Evolution of the Attribution Waterfall
In campaign measurement, the attribution waterfall is tasked with deciphering an array of user touchpoints and ad engagement types to award credit for a conversion to the most appropriate match. Attribution decisioning takes into account the timestamp of the ad interaction, the intent displayed through a simple ad view vs. click, available identifiers and privacy settings that impact match integrity (how deterministic the match is between ad and conversion), and more. Years ago, Kochava introduced completed view prioritization into its configurable attribution waterfall. This helped advertisers running video ads appropriately prioritize completed-view video impressions over impressions for static display ads and/or partially completed video views. A static display ad impression or partial video view impression should not win view-through attribution over a completed view of a video ad.
The creation of these new engagement types as standards across ad networks and super publishers is a welcome evolution.
Defining Engaged View and Engaged Click
Meta
Engaged View
For Meta, an engaged view is when a user plays your video ad for a minimum of 10 seconds (or 97% of the video length if it lasts less than 10 seconds). If the user then completes the conversion within a 1-day window, it is eligible for engaged view-through attribution (EVTA). This new engaged view will sit between click-through and view-through attribution. The added distinguishability will help marketers optimize their video ads’ performance by accounting for users who engage with video ads but are not as likely to click and convert in the moment.
Engaged View Availability
Engaged view is available for all ad placement types except Facebook in-stream video ads, which are not skippable. Please also note that engaged view metrics won’t be seen in reporting for campaigns that don’t leverage video assets.
View Meta’s complete help center documentation here.
TikTok for Business
Engaged View
On TikTok for Business, an engaged view is when a user plays a video ad for a minimum of six seconds. Given the short-form and skippable format of TikTok’s video ad units, the standard 10 seconds is not suitable for TikTok.
Engaged view-through attribution (EVTA) occurs when the user completes an engaged view, then goes on to complete the target conversion event within the attribution lookback window. The attribution lookback window can be from 1 day to 7 days, with a default of 1 day.
View TikTok’s complete help center documentation here.
Engaged Click
TikTok defines an engaged click as a user liking, commenting, sharing, or following your ad. This is distinct from an outbound click on an ad where a user acquisition campaign takes the user to the relevant app store for download, versus a retargeting campaign where a deep link is called to open the app on the user’s device. Currently, engaged click and outbound clicks are both claimed under the click-through attribution type. Further distinctions within the attribution waterfall may come about in the future.
Engaged View and Engaged Click Availability
Engaged view and engaged click are supported only for advertisers leveraging TikTok’s self-attributing/self-reporting network (SAN/SRN) integration model. Please refer to this prior post about TikTok SAN migration for Kochava customers.
Relevant Engaged-View and Engaged-Click Settings in Kochava
Attribution Waterfall Hierarchy
Within Kochava, the attribution waterfall will follow a new hierarchy:
- Click
- Engaged Click
- Engaged View
- Impression
Support across additional self-attributing/self-reporting networks and traditional ad networks will expand in the future.
Kochava Reporting, Analytics, and Query
In Kochava reporting, analytics, and query, you will find these new values for match_type:
- engaged_click
- engaged_view
This will enable filtering, grouping, and sorting of attribution reporting based on each match type.
Configurable Attribution
Within the partner configuration dashboard for Meta and TikTok, lookback window settings are available to adjust the time period for attributing conversions to these new match types. Please refer to the corresponding documentation for Meta and TikTok.
Enrolling in the Beta
If you’re advertising on Meta and/or TikTok for Business and want to enroll in the open beta, please contact your client success manager or email Support@Kochava.com.
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