Android Privacy Sandbox: How will measurement work?

As Google transitions to a more privacy-focused mobile ecosystem with the Android Privacy Sandbox, advertisers are keen to know the impact on how they measure their in-app retargeting campaigns.

The fundamentals of retargeting measurement won’t differ from today – advertisers will still be able to track key performance indicators such as cost-per-action (CPX) and return on ad spend (ROAS) based on their choice of conversion event. However, there are some nuances they should prepare for, particularly for granularity and noise.

App Privacy Unboxed kicked off with a 3-minute overview of the Android Sandbox APIs. In episode 2, Luckey Harpley explains how measurement changes will work in the Android Privacy Sandbox. Watch the video and get more thoughts from Luckey directly below.

Whether you are tracking app opens, in-app purchases, or other specific engagement metrics, the ability to track CPX and ROAS will remain intact in the Android Privacy Sandbox

The main difference in the Android Privacy Sandbox lies in the level of detail and precision you will have access to. Google’s Attribution and Reporting API, the answer to Apple’s SKAN framework, introduces privacy-preserving “noise” into your measurement data. While this ensures that user-level data is protected, it also means that there are limitations in the granularity of your reports.

The introduction of noise is designed to mask individual user behavior, making it more challenging to extract highly detailed insights. For example, while you can still expect to measure conversions at the campaign and ad group level with reasonable accuracy, getting granular data at the creative or country level might be harder.

Why is this the case? As you add more dimensions to your data—such as breaking down conversions by creative, geographic region, or user demographic—the total number of conversions in each “bucket” tends to shrink. And because noise is “per-bucket”, this creates a higher noise-to-signal ratio, meaning the relative noise in those smaller buckets becomes more pronounced. Thus, the more dimensions you try to analyze, the less useful the data becomes because the noise will eventually overwhelm the actual signal.

This will be one of the major adjustments for advertisers accustomed to high levels of granularity. If you’re used to drilling down to the creative level, you may encounter limitations that require you to focus on broader campaign insights instead.

One area where the Android Privacy Sandbox stands out compared to SKAN is in the types of conversion events you can measure. In the Android Privacy Sandbox, advertisers have the flexibility to choose any in-app event as the conversion event. This means you can track CPX and ROAS based on whatever event drives revenue in your app, whether it’s a purchase, sign-up, or some other key action.

In contrast, SKAN has more restrictions around what you can measure, particularly for retargeting campaigns. While SKAN 5 will introduce the ability to measure reengagement events, it will still lack the advanced targeting features that are available in the Android Privacy Sandbox. Without targeting capabilities, SKAN’s measurement of re-engagement reflects how much of your user acquisition (UA) budget is being used on existing users, rather than offering a chance to measure the effectiveness of your retargeting efforts.

Despite these differences, your day-to-day experience with measurement tools should remain familiar. You’ll have access to performance reports from your demand-side platform (DSP), mobile measurement partner (MMP), or any other third-party analytics providers you use. While some tweaks may be made to illustrate the impact of noise in the data, the structure of your reports will likely look similar to what you are used to today.

Start considering how reporting limitations may impact your strategies. Are you heavily reliant on granular data for campaign optimization? If so, it might be worth experimenting with higher-level insights and adjusting your approach to focus on broader performance trends.

Be proactive and adapt to maintain your competitive edge. In future posts, I’ll discuss strategies you can adopt to make the most of the upcoming changes on Android and prepare for the future of privacy-first retargeting measurement.

Did you catch episode 1 of App Privacy Unboxed? Watch Luckey Harpley break down the Android Privacy Sandbox APIs — in under 3 minutes!