Ad networks can leverage 42matters’ app intelligence to improve mobile and connected TV (CTV) ad performance. In this article, we walk you through seven of the most popular techniques.

Advertising is the life blood of the mobile and CTV app market. Indeed, when the final numbers for the year are tallied, it’s expected that worldwide digital ad spend will have amounted to $615.92 billion in 2022. And this number is by no means done growing. The global market is up 14.69% since 2021, and is expected to grow another 13.85% in 2023.

As a consequence, ad networks that compete to place these ads are hyper-focused on generating the best possible ad experiences for advertisers and publishers alike. In this article, we’ll go over seven ways ad networks can leverage 42matters’ app data to optimize the performance of their digital ad campaigns.

Here’s how ad networks can…

• Collect App Inventory Insights
• Identify Apps Across Platforms
• Improve Targeting With More Accurate App Classification
• Improve Brand Safety With Content Rating Insights
• Classify Apps Based on Performance Metrics
• View App Country Availability
• Acquire Complete 42matters Datasets to Build Their Own Tools
  
  

1. Collect App Inventory Insights

In order for ad networks to optimize ad placements, they need to have a good understanding of the apps available in their network. That is, they need to know their target audiences, the size of their user bases, the types of content they offer, etc.

The 42matters “Lookup API” offers a convenient solution for this. Ad networks can use it to query apps using identifiers like bundle IDs, track IDs, and package names. This will give them insight into downloads, publication statuses, content ratings, categories, localization techniques, and more.

2. Identify Apps Across Platforms

Along the same lines, our “App Bundle Verifier API” enables ad networks to identify apps across multiple platforms, including Google Play, the Apple App Store, Amazon Appstore, Tencent MyApp, Apple TV tvOS App Store, Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, the Roku Channel Store, Samsung Smart TV Apps, the LG Content Store, Vizio SmartCast Apps, and Huawei App Gallery.

For example, let's say an ad network places a high-ROI ad campaign on an Android app. To replicate the success of this campaign, they want to find the same app on all mobile and CTV app stores to launch similar ads. The “App Bundle Verifier API” enables them to query the app using its bundle ID, meaning they can quickly identify the app across platforms and avoid placing ads on copycats.

3. Improve Targeting With More Accurate App Classification

When it comes to boosting ad impressions and placing high ROI ads, app classification is essential. Ad networks should place special emphasis on things like app category, genre, IAB category, audience insights, and other similar metrics.

This is why, at 42matters, we offer a variety of tools to help ad networks improve their targeting techniques via better app classification. For example...

• The “Lookup API” provides category and genre information for apps published on Google Play and the Apple App Store. It also returns data on content ratings, which can be used to see whether apps are suitable for all audiences, or only more mature audiences.
• We also offer an API based on the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) content taxonomy, which provides more accurate app content classification than the standard app store categories. For example, while the “Tinder” app might be broadly categorized as a “Lifestyle” app on Google Play, the IAB’s content taxonomy is more precise, indicating that it’s a “Dating” app.
• We also offer numerous other APIs and app market research tools that can be used to classify apps based on downloads, monthly active users, keywords, top chart rankings, ad sentiment, location permissions, country availability, languages, reviews, integrated SDKs, and more.
  
  

4. Improve Brand Safety With Content Rating Insights

Many of our app classification tools can also be used to blacklist and whitelist apps according to advertiser brand safety guidelines. The “Lookup API” and “IAB Category API,” for example, can be used for high-level blacklisting based on content type.

However, ad networks can use our “App Content Ratings File Dump” to exclude apps based on content suitability or whether they’re acceptable for specific regional audiences. We provide content ratings from…

• ESRB in the United States
• PEGI in Europe and the Middle East
• Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) in Germany
• The Australian Classification Board
• Classificação Indicativa (ClassInd) in Brazil
• GRAC in South Korea
• IARC Generic
• The Apple App Store Rating System
  
  

5. Classify Apps Based on Performance Metrics

As we touched on earlier, we offer a number of performance insights — things like downloads, MAUs, ratings, reviews, top chart rankings, and more. Our solutions enable ad networks to dig into the nitty-gritties, with country- and region-specific filters that help them to place ads on apps that are popular in areas where advertisers have identified target markets.

6. View App Country Availability

We also touched on this one briefly, but another critical piece of information for ad networks, when it comes to placing high-return ads, is where their customers’ apps are available.

While some apps are targeted at worldwide audiences, others are more localized. TikTok and Facebook, for instance, are more global than Deliveroo and Doordash.

The 42matters “Country Availability API” tells ad networks where apps can be downloaded. The performance metrics APIs listed in the previous section tell ad networks where apps have robust user bases. Using these APIs together, ad networks can optimize the value of each and every placement.

7. Acquire Complete 42matters Datasets to Build Their Own Tools

42matters’ mobile and CTV app data can be harnessed in a number of ways. Of course, our APIs are meant to make life easier on businesses that are already overburdened with day-to-day operations, but we do provide solutions for ad networks that are looking for more workable solutions.

Indeed, if ad networks want to leverage the data collected by 42matters in their own analyses or APIs, they can do so with our full raw datasets. These will give them complete control over their offering so that they can approach the market on their own terms.

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