Airbridge supports cost integration with Apple Search Ads. Only the Owner and In-house marketer users can set up the cost integration and access the cost data.
To enable cost integration, the Campaign Management API integration must be completed. If you are unable to use Apple's Campaign Management API, refer to this article to learn about how to manually upload ad spend data to Airbridge.
Attention
Apple’s Campaign Management API is available only to those using Apple Search Ads Advanced. If you are using Apple Search Ads Basic, you can't use the Campaign Management API.
Without the Campaign Management API integration, Airbridge won't be able to fetch the campaign name, ad group name, keyword, and ad creative name. Moreover, cost integration cannot be enabled without the Campaign Management API integration.
Check your Apple Search Ads solution before proceeding with the integration process.
1. Navigate to [Integration]>[Ad Channel Integration]>[Apple Search Ads], select the [Cost Integration] tab, and switch on the cost integration toggle.
2. Click Add an account and log in to your Apple account. The account must be an admin account and have a recent history of campaign operation.
Login error troubleshooting
You may experience a login error when trying to log in to 2 different Apple accounts within a single browser. To avoid this error, clear the cache before logging in to a new Apple account.
3. After logging in, grant access permission to Airbridge by choosing from the two options:
Account Read Only: You allow Airbridge to access the data of all campaign groups.
Limited Access: You allow Airbridge to access only the data of selected campaign groups.
4. The integrated campaign groups will appear on the list when the integration is complete.
To disable the integration, switch off the cost integration toggle. No data will be pulled once the integration is disabled. Data already pulled into Airbridge is not affected.
The account information remains saved to Airbridge unless you remove the ad account from the integrated account list. By switching back the toggle on, the cost integration is enabled again with existing account information.
Select the ad account you wish to delete from the integrated ad account list and click Delete to delete it.
If you want to reconnect the deleted ad account, you need to add the ad account and set up the connection from the beginning.
Click Add a campaign group below the integration list and log in to a new Apple Search Ads account to connect new campaign groups to Airbridge. The Apple Search Ads accounts should run campaigns promoting the same app.
You can view the current status of your connections in the status column. Even if you have completed the cost integration, the status will show "Waiting" until the cost data is actually imported to Airbridge.
To ensure accuracy, Airbridge pulls the cost data several times throughout the day.
Frequency: Every 4 hours, 6 times a day starting 3:00 PM (UTC)
Schedule: 3:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 11:00 PM, 3:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 11:00 AM (UTC)
Data pulled: Cost data from the past 7 days, from D-0 to D-6
The last data update time is found under “Last Updated” in the integrated account list.
The integration status shows your cost integration and data update status at a glance.
Status | Description |
|---|---|
Waiting | The ad account is successfully added, but no data has been pulled yet. This status may remain for up to 4 hours. |
Success | The data is being pulled and updated regularly. The last update time is displayed. |
No data | No data has been pulled as the campaign has not run for the past 7 days. |
Failed | The data can’t be pulled due to an error. Some of the most common causes are: |
The cost data imported from Apple Search Ads via cost integration can be viewed in the Actuals Report and Trend Report at the campaign level or ad group level. The following metrics and GroupBys can be used for report configuration.
Metrics | Description |
|---|---|
Clicks (Channel) | The number of clicks measured by the ad channel |
Impressions (Channel) | The number of impressions measured by the ad channel |
Cost (Channel) | The ad spend spent on the ad channel |
Difference between Clicks and Clicks (Channel) metrics
The Clicks and Clicks (Channel) metrics both indicate the number of ad clicks, but their data collection methods differ.
Clicks: Data collected through Airbridge tracking links
Clicks (Channel): Data provided by Integrated Channels
All metrics with (Channel) in their names reflect the measurement reported by Integrated Channels. This rule applies to Impression and Impression (Channel) metrics as well.
GroupBy | Description |
|---|---|
Channel | The media source of the winning touchpoint |
Campaign | The name of the campaign of the winning touchpoint |
Ad Group | The name of the ad group of the winning touchpoint |
Term | The term, or the search keyword, of the winning touchpoint |
Campaign ID | The unique ID assigned to the campaign of the winning touchpoint |
Ad Group ID | The unique ID assigned to the ad group of the winning touchpoint |
Term ID | The unique ID assigned to the term, or the search keyword, of the winning touchpoint |
Ad Account ID | The unique ID assigned to the ad account of the winning touchpoint |
Sub Publisher | The second-tier media source of the winning touchpoint |
GroupBy | Description |
|---|---|
Country | The country code for the mobile device |
OS Name | The operating system installed on the mobile device |
GroupBy | Description |
|---|---|
Event Hour | The hour the event occurred in a 24-hour format |
Event Date | The day the event occurred (YYYY-MM-DD) |
Event Year | The year the event occurred (YYYY) |
Event Month | The month the event occurred (MM) |
Event Week | The week the event occurred (WW) |
Event Day of the month | The day of the month the event occurred (DD) |
Event Day of the week | The day of the week the event occurred in three-letter abbreviations |
Airbridge pulls the cost data from the past 7 days, every 4 hours, 6 times a day starting at 3:00 PM (UTC). As the updates are not real-time, there may be data discrepancies between Airbridge and the ad channel, depending on the time of reporting.
The data pulled via cost integration is provided by the app time zone and app standard currency set within Airbridge.
To minimize data discrepancy, align your app’s currency and time zone settings in your Airbridge dashboard and your ad channel’s dashboard.
The Cost (Channel) metric, which shows your ad spend reported by the ad channel, displays value only when used with specific GroupBys.
Below are the GroupBys that can be used in the Actuals Report to view data with the metric:
Channel
Campaign
Ad Group
Ad Creative
Depending on the data reported, the metric may not display any value even if you use the GroupBys above.
Once the cost integration is enabled, the following campaign details are advised not to be edited to avoid any error in pulling data into Airbridge.
Campaign name
Ad group
Ad creative name
The campaign group name that appears in the Ad Account Name is unavailable if you have not saved the campaign group name in your Apple Search Ads account.
The Search Match keywords are unavailable in Airbridge as Apple Search Ads does not provide data on them. For more details about Search Match, refer to this article on Apple Search Ads.
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