Over the last several months, Branch has been working directly with the Snap team to make sense of the various SKAdNetwork complexities. We are excited to announce that integration testing with Snap is now complete, and SKAdNetwork support is available to all mutual customers.
In the future, SKAdNetwork will be a requirement to access App Goal Based Bidding for iOS Campaigns on Snapchat, and we will continue to work closely with Snap as the integration further develops and iterates.
“When testing any integration, it’s crucial to consider all of the moving parts, especially for partners and customers. We worked closely with the Branch team and leveraged their test app, Branch Monster Factory, to set up our SKAdNetwork integration for success.”
– Sheila Bhardwaj, Measurement Partnerships at Snap
Below are some keys to our integration, as well as Snap-specific updates their team has recently shared with us:
Snap is forwarding SKAdNetwork postbacks directly to the Branch system. This is unique among SAN networks (most are simply sharing aggregate totals with MMPs via API), and means Branch can process, validate, and share SKAdNetwork insights directly with our mutual customers rather than relying on pre-aggregated ad network numbers.
Branch has set up an API endpoint for Snap to pull SKAdNetwork conversion-value mappings for mutual customers. The conversion-value parameter is the only signal SKAdNetwork provides into post-install user activity, which makes it vital for campaign performance optimizations. Branch provides a dashboard tool that customers can use to map existing Branch events to SKAdNetwork conversion-values. Uniquely to the Snap integration, we additionally use the Snap-specific event mappings under Partner Management → Event Config to ensure Snap receives the correct Snap event types.
Snap will show the AppTrackingTransparency prompt to users. This means that device-level data will continue to be available in addition to SKAdNetwork data for users that opt in on both sides.
How to get started
Prior to launching SKAdNetwork ad sets within Snapchat Ads Manager, customers will need to complete the SKAdNetwork integration and configure a Conversion Value mapping in the Branch dashboard.
To do this, customers should follow the steps in Branch’s SKAdNetwork setup guide and review Snap’s setup guide for SKAdNetwork, which contains useful details on what to expect in Snapchat Ads Manager.
Once the integration is enabled, we recommend testing the new SKAdNetwork functionality as soon as possible, to ensure there will be no disruption to measurement or scale of iOS app acquisition campaigns on Snapchat when Apple releases iOS 14.5.
Please note: to access SKAdNetwork functionality within Snapchat Ads Manager, Snapchat requires connecting a Snap App ID to your Branch dashboard. Most mutual customers have likely completed this process already, but if necessary, please review Snap’s instructions to configure a Snap App ID here, and instructions for the Branch dashboard steps here.
Please reach out to your Branch contact with any questions, or visit https://branch.io/ios-14/ to learn more about preparing for the iOS 14 privacy changes.