A Critical Review of SkAdNetwork
Home > Blog > A Critical Review: Adverse Effect of SkAdNetwork 
Reading Time: 4 minutes

A Critical Review: Adverse Effect of SkAdNetwork 

Stay in the loop and ahead of the curve. Subscribe to our newsletter now!
Share Now

There’s a buzz in the market with the current update from Apple on ios 14 that has come with some new advancements in privacy concerns for users. You might be also concerned about your data privacy with the increasing fraud. This breakthrough architecture not only promotes openness and trust between users and advertisers but also supports a mobile advertising ecosystem that cares more about user privacy. Marketers can use SKAdNetwork to reliably optimize their advertising budgets, get insightful information about the effectiveness of their campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to drive app downloads and conversions while protecting user privacy.

Keeping these advancements in mind, monitoring and tracking user data is going to have a massive impact. So let’s not put a lot into our heads and confuse ourselves but rather find more about the new framework SkAdNetwork. Let’s begin!

What is SkAdNetwork?

Enter the world of SkAdNetwork, a framework that has ensured the privacy of a user. We as users are now highly concerned about our privacy due to the increasing fraud. Apple has come with enhanced technology with the latest update of iOS 14, SkAdNetwork. While SKAdNetwork has undoubtedly revolutionized mobile ad measurement by putting user privacy first, it’s important to recognize that each approach has its drawbacks. In this blog post, we will explore the potential limitations and difficulties of SKAdNetwork to highlight its limitations and foster a deeper understanding of this innovative architecture.

How Does SkAdNetwork Work

The diagram above shows the typical path of an attribution-gaining ad insertion. The advertising network generally provides an advertisement that appears on an application. The advertisement causes a person to view it, click on it, or download the advertised software. How is the SkAdNetwork procedure performed? The steps are mentioned below.

  1. The source app advertises. 
  2. The publishing app triggers a 3-second timer and notifies SkAdNetwork when this happens. 
  3. What happens when the ad plays for 3 seconds or more? SkAdNetwork receives a notification about this from the source app and logs a successful fetch. 
  4. The publishing app displays the ad when the user not only views it but interacts with it.

Limitations of SkAdnetwork

The importance of privacy issues has increased, leading to the introduction of privacy-focused solutions like SKAdNetwork. While SKAdNetwork provides a useful framework for evaluating the effectiveness of mobile ad campaigns while preserving user privacy, it is not without its drawbacks. For advertisers looking to optimize their marketing tactics within the confines of this framework, understanding and negotiating these restrictions is essential.

This article explores SKAdNetwork’s limits, examining the difficulties advertisers encounter and the techniques they might use to get beyond these barriers. Advertisers can modify their strategies, use supplemental resources, and make wise decisions to generate effective mobile ad campaigns by being aware of the limitations of SKAdNetwork. Below listed are some limitations of SkAdnetwork in detail.

Granularity

It has to do with how easily advertisers can obtain and fine-tune campaign performance data. This comprises information on certain user demographics, behavioral trends, or event occurrences. While SKAdNetwork places a strong emphasis on privacy protection, it inevitably has some restrictions on the level of data that is made available to advertisers.

No Web Attribution

SkAdnetwork does not support web attribution. This hampers user acquisition and engagement both. Advertisers must depend on other attribution techniques or web-specific solutions in order to monitor and evaluate conversions from web-based sources. To credit conversions to particular ad engagements or website touchpoints, these solutions often entail the use of web-based tracking technologies like cookies, pixels, or other monitoring techniques.

No Re-Engagement Attribution Support

Since SkAdnetwork allows limited data access to the advertisers, hence they do not get the individual data of the user. Retargeting users becomes quite difficult for advertisers here. For a better understanding of the user journey and to gather user data advertisers need to opt for alternative methods of tracking and monitoring.

No real Multi-Touch Attribution

SkAdNetwork provides valuable insights in an aggregated manner rather than detailed information on every touchpoint. Advertisers are provided with a lesser amount of data and information while evaluating their ad campaigns. 

Conversion Value and Postback Delay

Because Apple has a lot more time gap of 24 hours when sending a postback to the app, it becomes cumbersome for advertisers to make real-time analytics. Since the conversion value becomes zero if the user is inactive during this time-lapse.  

Compatibility Issues

Apple has introduced SkAdnetwork in terms of privacy concerns but its complete implementation depends on the developers who would integrate SkAdnetwork in their applications. If it is not compatible with the app it might have data accuracy issues. 

Mobile Measurement Partner & SkAdNetwork

Trackier MMP has a lot more features to offer to advertisers who can manage their ad campaigns and their performance more effectively. With accurate data and reporting analytics advertisers can create customized reports according to their requirements. Since MMP work closely with advertisers it is more convenient for app developers to integrate SkAdnetwork into their mobile apps. Through appropriate SDKs, data is collected and transferred to advertisers easily. MMPs provide actionable insights based on campaign performance, user behavior, and attribution data that help further in retaining customers. 

To give advertisers thorough performance statistics, Trackier MMP combines the limited data from SKAdNetwork across numerous campaigns and media sources. Installs, conversion rates, and other key performance indicators are among the metrics included in these reports that assist marketers in determining how effective their mobile ad campaigns are.

Conclusion 

SKAdNetwork has come to prominence as a trailblazer solution that transforms mobile ad measurement and responds to escalating user privacy concerns. SKAdNetwork enables advertisers to make data-driven decisions, optimize their ad spend, and obtain insightful information about campaign effectiveness by offering aggregated campaign performance data while maintaining user anonymity. SKAdNetwork paves the way for a privacy-conscious future where openness, trust, and innovation can coexist peacefully as the mobile advertising landscape continues to change.

But it’s crucial for advertisers to take into account SKAdNetwork’s restrictions when creating an overarching measurement and attribution strategy. Depending on their particular advertising channels and objectives, they might need to install a combination of attribution solutions to efficiently measure and optimize their web-based campaigns in addition to SKAdNetwork’s capabilities for mobile app attribution.

For more information on SkAdNetwork and attribution contact us!

More to Explore

Mobile Advertising

Mobile Advertising Guide 2024: The What, Why, and How

Marketers are forever looking to leverage the lucrative opportunities in the ever-expanding mobile industry. The mobile ad spending is expected to surpass $235.7 billion by 2025 growing at a CAGR of 12% (between 2022 and 2025).  However, the unprecedented growth and intense competition make it tough for marketers to navigate

In-App Advertising

In-App Advertising: How to Go About It and Track It the Right Way

With 82% of mobile ad impressions coming from them, in-app advertising comes across as one of the fastest and most effective mobile advertising tactics. It serves as a powerful tool for app user acquisition.  And why not? In-app advertising lets you capture users with laser precision and level up the

Mobile App Analytics

Mastering Mobile App Analytics: Key Metrics and Tools You Can’t Ignore

With 8.93M mobile apps hustling for user attention, it’s getting tougher for mobile app owners and marketers to improve retention and stay competitive. Naturally, this means app owners must build an exceptional app experience to stand out from the sea of apps available today.  This is possible with a thorough