Singular announces initial partners for iOS 14 SKAdNetwork marketing measurement

As most mobile marketers know, Apple’s new mobile operating system has strict new privacy rules. And that’s a game-changer, literally, for mobile marketers. Starting in 2021 the IDFA will be opt-in in iOS 14, advertisers can’t count on getting granular per-device marketing measurement.

Singular SKAN, which we announced more than two months ago, allows marketers to integrate privacy-safe iOS 14 marketing measurement into their overall marketing reporting. It also provides a reference implementation plan for how to handle all the intricacies of Apple’s SKAdNetwork framework across the industry.

Today we’re happy to report the initial list of ad partners working to integrate with Singular SKAN. (And many more big names are coming soon!)

What this announcement means for marketers

Advertisers need to be able to run campaigns with the peace of mind that third-party measurement brings, knowing they’ll get reliable, accurate data that will help them grow their businesses. Singular is the first mobile measurement partner (MMP) to launch an SKAdNetwork measurement solution with broad industry support. That means that Singular clients can start performing parallel tests of SKAdNetwork campaigns side-by-side with IDFA-based measurement when possible, which is critical to ensure a smooth transition during this massive change.

And they’re able to do so knowing that the aggregated data they’ll get is completely privacy-safe.

The reality is that most marketers strongly support consumer privacy. We hear that from our customers every day. The competing imperative, of course, is that they also need to measure advertising impact.

Singular SKAN enables both.

And, it integrates smoothly into marketers’ existing reporting structures while also adding critical functionality for high-volume advertisers.

Singular SKAN’s privacy-safe marketing attribution technology:

• Unifies privacy-safe measurement data for advertisers by aggregating all SKAdNetwork postbacks
• Translates the marketing campaign IDs that ad networks use into human-readable names and makes the resulting data reportable
• Communicates conversion value meanings from marketers to ad networks so they can optimize campaigns
• And much more …

Ultimately, what Singular SKAN achieves is that as IDFA becomes opt-in (and likely scarce) marketers will still be able to seamlessly attribute anonymous mobile app installs and — crucially — optimize future marketing spend.

Secure-SKAN means fraud-free SKAdNetwork attribution

Singular was the first MMP to pioneer the use of HTTP 307 redirects as part of its solution for achieving a secure SKAdNetwork setup. This addresses two critical gaps that exist in the current implementation of SKAdNetwork: both the post-install conversion value and the IP address could potentially be manipulated by a fraudulent party.

HTTP 307 redirects allow ad network partners to instantly and securely re-transmit SKAdNetwork data from Apple to Singular, where we can validate, store, monitor, and manage data from all ad partners for each of our customers. We’re happy to see multiple partners working towards supporting Secure-SKAN to establish better trust in SKAdNetwork data and minimize fraud in the mobile advertising ecosystem.

And, as always, we’ll continue to push the boundaries of the fight against fraud.

What this means for ad partners

Marketers need certainty about compliance with new iOS 14 privacy rules and robust, unified marketing measurement of their campaigns. To get both, they need ad networks to support SKAdNetwork and industry initiatives like Singular SKAN.

Ad networks and media partners that support SKAdNetwork and Singular SKAN are showing that they support privacy-safe mobile attribution, plus that they’re willing to provide marketers with the aggregated, non-personal data they need to accurately measure marketing results and intelligently optimize them over time.

(Note: If you’re not yet working with us on Singular SKAN, here’s how to get started.)

The time is now: don’t wait

Apple’s recent delay of a full roll-out of iOS 14’s IDFA changes means you have a very precious few months to compare campaigns.

You’ll still be able to run traditional IDFA-based app install campaigns. You’ll also be able to run SKAdNetwork-based campaigns. These next months are a critical time when you can compare the results from each and start fine-tuning your SKAdNetwork-based campaigns. Ideally, you want to optimize them to at least the level of efficiency you currently have in IDFA-based mobile measurement … and perhaps even more.

Hence the rush.

Once the ball drops and SKAdNetwork is your only option, you won’t be able to compare and contrast, and you won’t know if a drop in performance is related to a campaign change, creative change, measurement change, data change, App Store or ad network change, or random drift and variation. Now is the time to figure it out.

In addition, you don’t want to be up the creek without a paddle when Apple completes full implementation. You want to be locked and loaded, ready to go, and fully compliant. That will ensure you don’t experience growth blockers … or run into trouble with App Store guidelines.

The good news: it’s easy to get ready

The good news is that Singular has completed almost all the hard work for marketers, providing the easiest and most powerful method for mobile marketers to implement SKAdNetwork and become iOS 14 compliant. With this announcement, we’ve passed another significant milestone: providing the ecosystem with the support required to start testing with live campaigns.

Because Singular was the first mobile measurement partner to implement Apple’s SKAdNetwork, we’ve had time to build powerful functionality that ensures you can optimize for growth while still respecting privacy. Singular SKAN includes:

• Clear role definitions for mobile marketing parties
• Unification of app SKAdNetwork postbacks
• Mapping of SKAdNetwork campaign IDs to human-readable formats
• Multiple real-time configurable post-install conversion models
• Validation of post-install conversions
• Clean technical separation from classical mobile attribution, ensuring full privacy compliance
• Full reporting integration, ensuring simple analysis and optimization

For more information on what Singular SKAN includes and how it works, see these resources featuring Singular CTO Eran Friedman:

SKAN: A practical standard for the implementation of SKAdNetwork

User acquisition in iOS14 with SKAN, Singular’s open source framework for SKAdNetwork

Also, we’d be more than happy to walk you through Singular’s SKAdNetwork implementation

List of supporting partners

Media partners collaborating with Singular to release joint support for SKAdNetwork, which ensure that mobile marketers can accurately and simply measure all their advertising activities, include:

• Aarki
• AdColony
• Adikteev
• AppLovin
• CrossInstall
• Facebook
• Fyber
• ironSource
• Jampp
• Lifestreet
• Liftoff
• MOLOCO
• Remerge
• Smadex
• Snapchat
• Tapjoy
• TikTok
• Twitter
• Vungle

Many other big names are coming, stay tuned for more updates to the list!

And to learn more about Singular’s SKAdNetwork support and how we can help your team achieve marketing success in a post-IDFA world, talk to one of our experts!