With the imminent enforcement of Apple’s new privacy features, including the iOS SKAdNetwork feature, IAB Tech Lab has released a new tool for managing and maintaining SKAdNetwork ID list. Advertisers, DSPs, and networks can register their SKAdNetwork IDs and IAB Tech Lab will publish a list of all registered IDs that can be downloaded by app developers and publishers. The SKAdNetwork, where SK stands for StoreKit, is part of an Apple framework for developers. The ad network API is meant to help advertisers measure the success of their ad campaigns while maintaining user privacy. This is an aggregate method and function embedded in iOS 14 to measure attribution of mobile ad campaigns for iOS apps. App publishers will use SKAdNetwork IDs to grant their mobile advertising and attribution partners access to this aggregate campaign performance data. The SKAdNetwork ID list will help app publishers easily identify their partners and the accompanying SKAdNetwork IDs.
In September 2020, the Programmatic Supply Chain Working Group released a set of OpenRTB extensions to support the updates as well as a blog post highlighting how to use them. Part of that guidance recognized that the SKAdNetwork ID list may become too long and passing all the IDs would make the OpenRTB payload very big. One of the alternate, more efficient proposals for transmitting long/complete lists was to have an IAB Tech Lab managed list.
Networks, DSPs, Advertisers and others who support Apple’s SKAdNetwork API may now register for the IAB Tech Lab list. The list is also now available for download. App publishers or others looking for the list may download it for free as a JSON file within the Tech Lab Tools Portal (http://tools.iabtechlab.com/skadnetwork) or access via API endpoint. The file will be updated automatically with each new registration.
App developers can use this list data to create their plists. IAB Tech Lab’s Programmatic Supply Chain subgroup focused on the SKAdNetwork solutions is also actively working on a tool that will help simplify plist creation. Look for this tool in the Tech Lab codebank in the coming month.
Apple has most recently noted that the enforcement of these changes will begin in early Spring. With that in mind we strongly urge Networks, DSPs, Advertisers and others who support the feature to register now, giving app developers time to integrate the relevant ID lists into their apps.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jill Wittkopp
Director, Product Management
IAB Tech Lab