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App Talk South Korea prepares advertisers for the privacy era

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App Talk South Korea prepares advertisers for the privacy era

Remerge kicked off 2024 with its inaugural App Talk event, a new initiative bringing together the mobile industry's most influential leaders to discuss the latest trends and exchange knowledge about everything related to in-app programmatic advertising.

The first event took place in Seoul, Korea and featured a keynote presentation from Remerge's CEO, Pan Katsukis, along with speaker slots from co-hosts AppsFlyer and Sensor Tower. There was also a panel discussion with globally renowned games publisher Nexon and leading financial services app Coinone.

The sessions provided insights on the state of the Korean mobile market, the importance of engagement campaigns and why marketers must rethink their user acquisition and retargeting strategies. On top of this, the agenda covered some of the main challenges facing today's app advertisers, including the constantly evolving privacy measures on Android and iOS.

This roundup article includes Sensor Tower's overview of the non-gaming mobile sector, Remerge's take on how Google's Android Privacy Sandbox works, AppsFlyer and Team Mint's insights on running advertising campaigns in the privacy first era, and talking points from the panel discussion.

Sensor Tower shares data and insights for growing non-gaming sector

Sensor Tower, a market intelligence company based in San Francisco, took to the stage to present an overview of the non-gaming app landscape. Joon Yoo, Regional Director APAC Sales, presented the organization's latest data and insights.

Sensor Tower speaker

According to Sensor Tower's research, revenue for the non-gaming sector exhibited consistent growth, predominantly on iOS. Entertainment apps, led by TikTok and YouTube, accounted for 27% of total global revenue in 2023, growing from $3.9 billion in 2018 to $14.3 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, shopping apps, exemplified by Temu and SHEIN, reaching 6 billion downloads worldwide, experienced significant growth, while photo and video apps witnessed a decline in new downloads but demonstrated continued revenue increases. Sensor Tower anticipates that global non-gaming mobile app downloads will exceed 105 billion by 2028.

Similar to the global market, non-game mobile app downloads in Korea increased, with shopping apps leading the way. In 2023, South Korea's non-gaming app revenue surpassed $1.2 billion, with entertainment, photos and videos, and books as standout categories.

Worldwide in-app purchase revenue for book comic apps remained on the up, with Sensor Tower highlighting that the amount reached $2.4 billion by October 2023. Korean manga apps, including Piccoma and NAVER WEBTOON, demonstrated significant revenue and retention rates. Piccoma's diverse content offerings, including webtoons, published comics, and web novels, coupled with unique monetization strategies, such as "wait for free", have successfully attracted users, lowered entry barriers, and increased revenue.

Google's Protected Audiences API will allow mobile marketers to re-engage Android users

Conversations about mobile privacy developments on Android and iOS are becoming louder as consumers continue to demand more control over their data and transparency around how it is shared.

Pan Katsukis, Remerge CEO, joined the App Talk event in Korea to deliver a keynote presentation about the impact of the upcoming Android Privacy Sandbox rollout and how Remerge is preparing for the programmatic advertising industry's privacy-first future.

Google plans to remove cookies from its Chrome browser and the GAID from its Android operating system with its Privacy Sandbox rollout. The tech giant is collaborating with businesses across the ad tech industry to rollout its Android privacy framework, which will provide solutions for tracking and reporting via the Attribution API, targeting through the Topics and Protected Audiences API, and data collection and handling via the SDK Run Time. While the launch will not happen before October 2024, it's crucial that mobile advertisers stay informed and adapt their strategies ahead of this date.

« Remerge is working closely with Google to build products on the Protected Audiences API »
Pan Katsukis, Remerge Co-founder and CEO

As Pan Katsukis explained, the Protected Audiences API will fully support remarketing on Android. Part of this API involves adding users to audiences (called 'custom audiences') and storing associated data directly on their device. DSPs, like Remerge, will use these custom audiences as a signal for app retargeting campaigns. The auction for ad impressions will also take place on a user's device, as opposed to an external server.

"We will move from targeting one user to a pool of users and segmentation will happen before the auction takes place. This is a big change on the technological side of things, but app marketers won't experience much disruption with their ad buying."

"Remerge is working closely with Google to build products on the Protected Audiences API. We're in direct contact with Google's leadership team and have our own R&D team which has been working on Android Sandbox developments for over a year."

Pan Katsukis also touched on how Apple may be considering a more active involvement in the mobile privacy space in 2024. Advertising revenue has shifted to Android, which has strengthened and diversified the mobile advertising ecosystem. Combined with Google's collaborative approach to creating a privacy-first advertising future, Apple could be looking towards building a working ecosystem without compromising its in-app advertising business.

Advertisers adapt marketing strategies on iOS and Android after IDFA deprecation

During the event Charlie (Youcheol) Moon, Korea Country Manager, Appsflyer, a Mobile Measurement Platform, and Gyuheon Joe, Team Lead, Team Mint, an advertising agency, shared their insights regarding the privacy developments on Android and iOS.

AppsFlyer speaker

"Remerge and AppsFlyer are testing the Privacy Sandbox with traffic from real Android users. It has already been confirmed that it works technically and AppsFlyer is accepting beta applications. What makes this time different from iOS14+ is that the ecosystem will participate in the development process. Companies such as AppsFlyer and Remerge test with real user traffic and provide feedback, and Google is paying attention to it. Customers of AppsFlyer and Remerge can rest easy. We will be well prepared for the Privacy Sandbox."

Team Mint speaker

"The deprecation of the IDFA forced us to acknowledge an unexpected phenomena. For instance, there are thresholds that vary by media, making analysis impossible if a specific number of installs do not occur in a day at the campaign level. Additionally, unexpected duplicate attribution occurred when both client and publisher apps consented to ATT. This led to overlapping attribution between SKAN and the conventional MMP (Mobile Measurement Partner) method. Consequently, a number of UA marketers decided to refrain from advertising on iOS, reallocating budgets to Android OS (AOS). This shift resulted in significantly lower CPM (Cost Per Mille) rates on iOS from 2021 to the present."

Mobile advertisers turn to marketing mix modeling

Speaking as part of a panel discussion, Woochang Lee, Deputy Department Manager, NEXON and Yeseul Yi, Marketing Cell Owner (CO), Coinone, provided their take on the questions mobile marketers should be asking themselves in 2024 and beyond.

NEXON speaker
Coinone speaker

Both companies highlighted the importance of using 1st party data collection and contextual targeting to combat the loss of IDs on iOS and Android. They also stressed the value of Marketing Mix Modelling in planning, measuring and optimizing campaigns.

Marketing mix modeling involves analyzing multiple business areas, such as sales data, customer data and media spend, to evaluate the performance of advertising campaigns and identify which internal and external factors are responsible for meeting goals. For instance, are in-app ads affecting revenue numbers? Companies like NEXON and Coinone are employing this method to measure marketing activities across various channels, not only mobile. For example, is there a correlation between Youtube content trends and user acquisition activities? The answers allow them to adjust marketing budgets to spend on the channels that perform well.

Access Remerge's programmatic advertising resources

Be the first to learn more App Talk events by signing up to Mobile Methods. And visit Remerge's complete guide to in-app retargeting and its newly launched Mobile Privacy Newsroom to learn about campaign strategies, Google's Privacy Sandbox, and Apple's ATT framework.

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Retargeting lexicon
Programmatic Advertising

The automated process of buying and selling advertising space through digital platforms.

View-Through Attribution
view-through-attribution

Refer to: Attribution Methodology

Uplift Test
uplift-test

A randomized control trial test conducted by Remerge to measure the incremental impact of one or more campaigns.

See also: Randomized Controlled Trial

Uplift Report
uplift-report

A report by Remerge showing the results of an uplift test. It presents the incremental revenue generated, on top of organic and other marketing-driven conversions. Also contains observed values such as ad spend, group sizes, amount of conversions, converters, and revenues per group, plus other metrics.

SKAdNetwork
skadnetwork

Stands for Store Kit Advertising Network. Apple’s measurement framework for tracking mobile attribution. Introduced in 2018 and widely implemented in 2020 with the iOS 14.5 update.

Segment
segment

A group of users with common attributes such as location, demographics, activity level, value or amount of purchases, and how recently they last opened a specific app.

Retention Rate
retention-rate

The share of users active in the app within certain time frames after install, reengagement, or other events.

Retargeting
retargeting

A type of marketing channel used by an app owner to engage with their existing users through other channels within the same device. Usually, the aim is to encourage users to complete a particular task e.g. completing a purchase, buying in-game currency, placing a first order. The conventional way of retargeting relies on user IDs, such as AAID and IDFA.

Reshuffle
reshuffle

Reshuffle indicates the randomization and marking of users when they were once part of a test or control group.

In incrementality measurement, reshuffling the group assignment for a specific application fights aggregated bias over time where one group doesn't see any ads while the other group is constantly exposed to them.

Reshuffling is relevant in cases where a test has been running for a long time and/or in campaigns the experience more extensive changes to the campaign setups, segmentation, or creative strategy.

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)
real-time-bidding-rtb

The process by which individual ad placements are bought and sold via programmatic auctions that happen instantaneously. With real-time bidding, ad buyers bid on an ad space, which, if the auction is won, instantly displays the buyer's ad. This lets demand-side players such as advertisers or DSPs optimize the purchase of ad placements from multiple sources.

Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT)
randomised-controlled-trial-rct

A method that randomly separates a specific population into two groups that are as similar to each other as possible, namely the test group and control group.

further reading
Queries Per Second (QPS)
queries-per-second-qps

The number of ad placements a DSP is able to process in order to determine on how to bid on them.

Publisher
publisher

Within the sphere of app marketing, a publisher is an App Developer that gets paid for placing ads within their app. For example, an advertiser wants to reach their users via App Y, so they pay App Y to display their ads.

further reading
Public Service Announcement Ad (PSA Ads)
public-service-announcement-ad-psa-ads

An incrementality testing methodology where devices in the control group are shown PSA ads, like donation drives or road safety reminders. By serving real ads, information on the devices within the control group that would have been exposed can be obtained. Unexposed devices are excluded from the measurement to reduce noise.

Probabilistic Attribution
probabilistic-attribution

Refer to: Attribution Methodology

Organic Behavior
organic-behavior

A user’s behavior not directly attributable to specific marketing efforts.

Multi-Touch Attribution
multi-touch-attribution

Refer to: Attribution Methodology

Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP)
mobile-measurement-partner-mmp

Within the sphere of app marketing, MMPs are a service provider that specializes in measuring activities that are happening within and leading to the app. An app publisher may incorporate an MMP into their app to track activity and events e.g. time spent on a certain screen, sources of incoming traffic, app opening frequencies etc.

Lifetime Value (LTV)
lifetime-value-ltv

The amount of revenue generated by the user for the App Developer during the entire duration of the relationship with the user, beginning with the app install.

Last-Click Attribution
last-click-attribution

Refer to: Attribution Methodology

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
key-performance-indicator-kpi

The key metrics used to assess the effectiveness of an effort in achieving its objective. In programmatic advertising, the common types of performance indicators depend on the goals and nature of each campaign. These can include ROAS, cost per action, and retention rate.

Intent-to-Treat (ITT)
intent-to-treat-itt

An incrementality testing methodology where no ads from the campaign are shown to devices within the control group. Also known as a ‘holdout test’. Cost-free and easy to implement, but with a relatively high level of noise.

This method compares the behavior of all users in both groups. In the test group, this includes both exposed and unexposed users

Incrementality
incrementality

A method of measuring the impact of a specific activity, on top of organic and other activity.

Incremental Revenue (iRevenue)
incremental-revenue-irevenue

The estimated revenue caused directly by the campaign.

Formula:Revenue from test group – revenue from control group = iRevenue

Incremental Return On Ad Spend (iROAS)
incremental-return-on-ad-spend-iroas

A KPI used in calculating how cost-efficient a campaign is. This is used to evaluate the relationship between incremental revenue and the amount of money spent on the campaign. The figure is typically represented in percentage.

Formula:
Percentage: [IRevenue ÷ ad spend] × 100 = IROAS%
Ratio: IRevenue ÷ ad spend = IROAS

Incremental Cost Per Action (iCPA)
incremental-cost-per-action-icpa

A KPI used to evaluate the cost of incremental conversions.

Formula:Ad spend ÷ [test group actions – control group actions] = iCPA

Incremental Conversions
incremental-conversions

The estimated amount of conversions caused directly by the campaign.

Formula:
Test group conversions – control group conversions (scaled) = Incremental conversions

In-app Event
in-app-event

Actions made by a user within the app, such as log-in, registration, completion of onboarding, or purchases. These events can be tracked with the help of an MMP.

Impression
impression

The deployment of the ad to the ad placement. An impression might not necessarily mean that the ad has been viewed.

Identifier for advertisers (IDFA)
identifier-for-advertisers-idfa

A unique random device identifier Apple generates and assigns to every iOS device. Advertisers can use this to track user activity across apps, show them personalized ads, and attribute ad interactions.

Ghost Ads
ghost-ads

A testing methodology that shows devices in the control group an ad ran by another advertiser on the platform, therefore removing any additional cost for clicks and impressions. The control group behavior is then marked with a ‘ghost impression’, which gives the information on which control group users would have been exposed.

further reading
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr

A regulation under the EU (European Union) law on data protection and privacy within the EU and the EEA (European Economic Area), that grants users control over how their data is stored and used by organizations. To comply with GDPR, programmatic sellers must clearly communicate to users how their data will be stored and used. When a user gives consent to an organization to process their data, it enables targeted advertising.

Exposure Rate
exposure-rate

The percentage of devices within a test group that received at least one ad impression, versus the total number of devices within the test group targeted within a campaign during an uplift test. For example, if 900 out of 1,000 users are shown an ad, the exposure rate is 90%.

See also: Uplift Test

Deterministic Attribution
deterministic-attribution

Refer to: Attribution Methodology

Deep link
deep-link

A link that sends users directly to a specific in-app location, instead of the app marketplace. Deep links bypass the steps needed to go through to reach a conversion point, bringing the user directly to where they can perform the intended action e.g. completing a purchase, buying coins, placing an order.

Test Group
test-group

Within the sphere of app marketing, this refers to the group of devices that may be shown ads from a specific campaign in the test. The actions on these devices are then compared to the actions on the devices in the control group.

Compare with: Control Group

further reading
Control Group
control-group

Within the sphere of app marketing, this refers to the group of devices within the target audience that are not shown ads from a specific campaign in the test. The actions on these devices are then compared to the actions on the devices in the test group.

Compare with: Test Group

further reading
Contextual targeting
contextual-targeting

A type of targeting that works with contextual signals only, such as location data (country, city, postal code), language setting, mobile operating system, device model, as well as publisher information.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
california-consumer-privacy-act-ccpa

A bill that enhances privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of California, United States. The CCPA took effect on January 1, 2020.

The CCPA provides these rights to consumers:

- Know what personal data is being collected about them.
- Know whether their personal data is sold or disclosed, and to whom.
- Say no to the sale of personal data.
- Access their personal data.
- Request a business to delete any personal information that was collected from that consumer.
- Equal service and price, even if they exercise their privacy rights.

Attribution Window
attribution-window

A specific time frame that is taken into consideration when determining the source of a user’s action.

Attribution Provider (AP)
attribution-provider-ap

A role played by an MMP to credit the in-app activity of users to the correct media sources.

Attribution Methodology
attribution-methodology

Refers to the process of identifying which conversions belong to which preceding click or impression. Common attribution methodologies include:

  • Click-Through Attribution - Determines the source of a conversion based on the user’s click activity.

  • View-Through Attribution - Determines the source of a conversion based on the ad impression delivered to the user.

  • Deterministic Attribution - A model that establishes the origin of a user’s conversion from a specific click or impression, based on unique device IDs.

  • Probabilistic Attribution - A model that establishes the likelihood of a user’s conversion originating from a specific click or impression, based on the data logged on both occasions, such as device language, timezone, IP address, and OS version.

  • Last-Touch Attribution - A model that establishes a match between the action taken by a user (e.g. app open, purchase) and its corresponding ad click or impression. When a user converts from an ad, the DSP that delivered the respective ad is given full credit for that conversion event.

  • Multi-Touch Attribution - Also known as multi-channel attribution. A model determines the value of every touchpoint on the way to a conversion. Rather than giving full credit to one ad, multi-touch attribution divides the credit among all advertising channels that the user has interacted with, leading to the conversion.
Attribution
attribution

A method of identifying the touchpoints a user has encountered within a specified period before making a conversion.

App Tracking Transparency (ATT)
app-tracking-transparency-att

The privacy framework from Apple that, among other things, manages the process of obtaining user consent before accessing their Identifier for Advertiser (IDFA).

App Monetization
app-monetization

The strategy a publisher employs to earn money from their app. This can be done through in-app advertisements, paid membership, and charging for premium features or an ad-free experience, among others. For example, some gaming apps are free to download and play, but users may need to pay in order to progress to the next level quickly.

Android Advertising identifier (AAID)
android-advertising-identifier-aaid

Also known as Google Advertising Identifier. A unique device identifier that Android generates and assigns to every device. Advertisers can use this to track user activity across apps, show them personalized ads, and attribute ad interactions.

Advertisers
advertisers

The advertiser is a person or legal entity focusing on generating sales and leads through serving ads that convey the right message to the right audience at the right time.

In mobile advertising, the advertiser is on the client-side and is the one interested in promoting an app.

Causal Impact Analysis
causal-impact-analysis

A measurement framework developed by Google that works without device IDs. It measures the incremental uplift of one or more conversion events, removing the influence of other campaigns and organic conversions. Used to assess the effect of ID-less campaigns.

Similar to measuring the effect TV ads have, the principle is based on running campaigns on identifiable sub-markets (test group), while leaving other sub-markets unexposed (control group).

Ghost Bids
ghost-bids

An incrementality testing methodology based on Ghost Ads, adapted for retargeting campaigns. The difference is that it removes all devices that are not seen on ad exchanges, or that would not be bid on, from both test and control groups, to reduce noise. A bid is placed as usual for the test group, while the control group is tracked with ‘ghost bids’ (bids that could have been placed, but weren’t in the end).

Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)
return-on-advertising-spend-roas

A KPI that measures the relationship between the revenue generated by specific advertising efforts and the money spent on them.

Formula

Percentage: [Revenue ÷ ad spend] × 100 = ROAS%

Ratio: Revenue ÷ ad spend = ROAS

See also: Incremental Return On Ad Spend

Supply-Side Platform (SSP)
supply-side-platform-ssp

A company that works with publishers to sell ad inventory across ad networks.

Demand-Side Platform (DSP)
demand-side-platform-dsp

A company that works with advertisers to purchase ad inventory across ad networks. Their platforms are built to identify a desired ad space and place bids on it.

Compare with: Supply-Side Platform

Open RTB
open-rtb

A digital marketplace where ad inventory from multiple publishers are available for advertisers to bid on in real time.

See also: Real-Time Bidding

Self-Attributing Network
self-attributing-network

An ad network like Meta, Snap, and Twitter, that attributes its traffic internally, without the involvement of third-party MMPs.

Variable Bidding
variable-bidding

The dynamic adjustment of bid prices based on a user's in-app behavioral patterns, contextual information, time of day, and ad placement performance.

Dynamic Product Ad (DPA)
dynamic-product-ad-dpa

Also known as a dynamic ad. It is dynamically assembled based on the user’s behavior and information sourced from a feed. This type of ad delivers a tailored experience for individual users.

Real-Time Audience Segmentation
real-time-audience-segmentation

The division of an audience into distinct segments based on real-time events, thus enabling targeted advertising and alignment with a user's behavioral patterns and preferences.

User Acquisition (UA)
user-acquisition-ua

A mobile marketing effort used to attract new users to an app. Paid UA may refer to ads shown in mobile ad networks or social media channels, while non-paid UA involves app store optimization and promotion on the advertiser’s own channels.

Programmatic Advertising
programmatic-advertising

The automated process of buying and selling advertising space through digital platforms.

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