Skadnetwork & iOS14 - Our Approach

SkadNetwork, and the IDFA changes in iOS 14.5, fundamentally changes how attribution is done in the mobile performance marketing space. We want to share with you all, how 24Metrics, as a Fraud Detection Provider, approaches the matter.

WHAT CHANGES

Users have the option to not opt in to Device TrackingExpected 50% of users won’t opt-in Installs with no tracking opt-in will have an inaccurate CTIInstalls with no tracking opt-in won’t have Device ID’s Skadnetwork installs get attributed with a random attribution of upto 48h Impact on Fraud Detection:

• CTIT Min / Max Filters are affected
• ClickSpam Filter are affected
• Abnormally Low Session Time. Filter are affected
• Duplicate IP are expected to rise

Our objective on the implementation:

• No required / complicated Filter change settings for clients
• Filters continue to give accurate results for Android / iOS Version below 14.5
• Avoiding false positives due to inaccurate Data

HOW WE WILL HANDLE SKADNETWORK INSTALLS

We adapted our filters for ClickSpam, abnormally low session time & Session Time Min/max filters to consider the upcoming changes

Conversion with iOS 14.5 and no device ID are considered as inaccurate CTITs and won’t be flagged as ClickSpam

On the contrary, we still flag iOS 14.5 conversions where we receive Device IDs and excessive CTITs as ClickSpam

We added the ability to create Filter Groups specifically for older OS versions. (e.g. iOS 14 or Android 8)

Now you can view the information in the Conversion Report regarding the expected inaccuracy of CTITs due to SkadNetwork

In this way we still have overall reliable Fraud Detection that works across platforms and makes the most of the available data while not causing false positive flaggings. On a rough estimation we expect that on iOS at the beginning 50% of the users will upgrade to the latest version of iOS14.5 and another 50% of users will choose not to opt-in to the Device tracking.  Overall this means that in around 70-75% of cases we will still have accurate data for iOS users. This percentage maybe decline over time but at the start this is what we expect and it will hopefully give the industry time to adapt.

Putting this into a Fraud Detection context a source that was previously flagged as 100% Clickpam would would now only show a reduced ClickSpam percentage of 70-75%. Bear this in mind when looking at results.

Best practice: Ensure to pass Device IDs to your integration when possible as this helps us to identify SKAdNetwork installs and give you best results.We are curious to hear your opinion. Feel free to reach out to our team for a more engaged discussion.

Υour 24Metrics Team