View-through Brings More Flexible Attribution to Developers

Today, we announced view-through attribution that provides impression-level attribution for installs from app ads. Increasingly, we have observed that people see an ad and then install the app later without clicking on the ad. Thus, click-based attribution does not fully capture the value of these ads. With view-through attribution, developers can now better measure the value of Facebook app ads and get a more complete picture of attribution from advertising campaigns. These insights will let you make quicker and more confident changes to your ad spend and maximize your ROI.

Why view-through matters?
Several trends are contributing to the rise in view-through installs. With more video ads and content, which tend to be viewed more than clicked on, the need to better attribute their impact is increasing. Furthermore, in many fast growing emerging markets people view an app ad and delay installation till a more convenient time such as when they are on wifi. These significant shifts in ad formats and consumer behavior require better attribution models.

How view-through attribution works?
If an install occurs with no associated Facebook click, then we look to see if the person viewed a mobile app install ad in the last 24 hours. If there is a view attributed to the install ad, we send this information to our measurement partners as a Facebook view-attributed install. In turn, our measurement partners can pass this information to you.
The availability of view-through attribution has been extremely well received by our partner ecosystem as it helps them build a holistic view of attribution.

“We are excited about giving our advertisers a more comprehensive picture of how people are discovering their apps. The addition of view-through attribution data provides mobile marketers with deeper insight into their Facebook campaign performance and its impact on both their mobile and omni-channel ROI." - Director of Partner Development, Ben Roodman, AppsFlyer

Results
We've been working with view-through attribution for some time now, and the customer results from beta launch have been very encouraging.

"We partnered with the Facebook team to run a lift study and understand the effects of view-through attribution. What we found was that we were under-attributing installs by 18% when only using a last click attribution model. We always understood the effect of FB advertising, but this really helped quantify the overall impact. We're very excited about view-through attribution as it enables us to better understand the effects of our advertising." – Director of UA, Chris Luhur, Pocket Gems

Start creating app ads campaigns now and begin measuring more than just the last click.