Facebook is Ditching Advanced Mobile Measurement… But What Does that Really Mean?
In early August, Facebook announced that it will no longer offer the Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM) program for Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs). Access to all AMM data will be removed on October 29, 2021 – but what does that mean exactly? Does Facebook have a plan in place for measurement moving forward (spoiler alert: they do). We’ll break down the ins and out of this update and the latest news from Facebook to keep you in the know. Let’s start with the basics.
What was the Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM) program?
The AMM program was an agreement that advertisers could make with Facebook in order to gain direct access to in-depth/granular data related to advertisements, like view-through and click-through conversions. These advertisers would have access to this granular data through their Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP).
What are MMPs?
According to Appsflyer, a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) “is a company that helps apps measure campaign performance across advertising marketing channels, media sources, and ad networks.” They are vetted sources who help advertisers determine the effectiveness and ROI of specific campaigns.
Why is Facebook depreciating Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM)?
2021 is the year of all things privacy, especially when it comes to mobile. This AMM shift is another update in Facebook’s ongoing push towards more privacy as it relates to user data on the platforms stemming from the iOS updates. According to Singular…
“Somewhat similarly to view-through install attributions in April 2020, Facebook install measurement information will only be available in aggregated reporting. That means no IDFA on iOS or partial user-level visibility on Android. It means more end-user privacy, of course. And it also means changes for how some mobile marketers run user acquisition and their internal measurement, BI, analytics and machine learning.”
– Singular
What impacts are expected?
Currently, with this change, only aggregated data will be shared directly with advertisers via their MMP. With most MMPs, the integration with Facebook will not change, it will only be the granularity of reporting that will be affected.
In short…
- This applies to all iOS & Android User Data, regardless of their consent to ATT or Ads Personalization
- All MMPs will be impacted by the change
- Currently, Facebook sends last touch information to brands when the conversion is associated with a specific click (allows brands to confirm which ad led to a user action in-app). With the change, MMPs can only share click-through data with brands in an aggregated form (we can still measure aggregated conversions down to the ad ID level).
If you are already using aggregated reporting of attribution, Facebook claims that you won’t see any major changes. But if you are using device-level data from your MPP to do reporting, you will run into issues with the level of granularity you will be able to see from your Facebook app campaigns – but don’t fret, Facebook has a plan for that.
“This change is one in a long line of updates Facebook is having to make coming out of Apple’s privacy updates. While at face value the impacts appear small, it is important for app advertisers to understand the long-term implications of these changes and how to measure success moving forward.”
– Katy Lucey, Director, Paid Social at Tinuiti
So, what’s the plan for measurement moving forward?
Facebook just announced that on October 25, 2021, they will begin a gradual global rollout of App Aggregated Event Measurement. App Aggregated Event Measurement recovers Facebook’s ability to measure in-app conversions (combatting what the depreciation of AMM initially removed), enabling advertisers to run re-engagement campaigns with in-app destinations for all iOS users (including iOS14.5+ users).
What’s new: Previously, advertisers who wanted to redirect users in-app could only do so using the Link Click optimization. Now with App Aggregated Event Measurement advertisers can use Conversion or Value Optimization to redirect users in-app and drive real business results such as making an in-app purchase or adding selected products to cart.
App Aggregated Event Measurement will initially be available exclusively to advertisers who:
- Run Catalog Sales app event campaigns
- Integrated with the latest version of the Facebook SDK (v11.2.0 or above)
- Configure app events in Events Manager –
As Facebook gradually rolls out App Aggregated Event Measurement globally, they expect all eligible advertisers to have access to this product by the end of November 2021. This means that not all eligible advertisers will have access to App Aggregated Event Measurement starting on October 25, 2021. - The rollout of App Aggregated Event Measurement is aligned with other improvements to reporting, modeling, and campaign management for website and app event campaigns.
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