AOL Expands Programmatic Targeting and Attribution for Mobile Apps

Enables ONE by AOL customers to efficiently target audiences within mobile apps and measure ad impact, from TV to mobile.

New York, NY –  AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) announced the launch of an expanded set of mobile app marketing capabilities. The addition of these tools to the ONE by AOL platform allows advertisers to programmatically target mobile app users, as well as measure and attribute how and to what extent mobile app advertising works comparative to overall media spend.

The new capabilities are particularly geared for app marketers focused on data driven user acquisition and retention strategies within their programmatic media buying while measuring the effectiveness of those strategies in the context of their marketing programs across all channels, including TV.

“Mobile, particularly within the app environment, is an increasingly important piece of marketers’ media spend, and we are excited to expand the options our customers have to tap into that highly engaged audience,” said Don Kennedy, President of Advertiser Platforms. “AOL’s commitment to an open ad ecosystem allows us to plug in leading partners like Kochava and Tune into the ONE platform, with the ultimate goal of simplifying the technology for advertisers and helping them maximize and measure their marketing return on investment.”

“Data is vital to making real-time marketing decisions, especially on mobile where people are spending more of their time every day,” said Alfred Van Hoven, Vice President of Interactive at Camelot Communications, a leading marketing and media services company that works with brands including 7-Eleven, Intuit, the NFL, and Southwest Airlines. “Working with AOL, we’re able to bring together technology-centric solutions with big data, allowing for much smarter advertising in mobile, a better brand experience with those audiences, and, ultimately, greater value for our clients.”

AOL’s programmatic mobile app targeting is available as a managed service for advertisers and puts data to work to accomplish their business goals. Within ONE, advertiser data can be overlapped with AOL’s audience data, location targeting data, or any third-party data to programmatically target and reach users on their mobile devices, or other connected devices. Advertisers can also set up unique mobile audience targeting parameters, such as targeting users that have downloaded their app but haven’t signed up, bought anything or used a service.

Mobile app attribution is available as part of ONE or standalone through Convertro, AOL’s multi-touch attribution platform. Advertisers can measure the impact of their marketing in mobile, Web, and TV based on algorithmic attribution models, and apply optimized spending recommendations to future ad buys. The resulting recommendations help marketers make media spend decisions based on a complete picture of the relative impact of marketing by channel – comparing the impact of TV ads against desktop ads, for example – and by more granular tactics, such as mobile user acquisition and mobile user re-engagement.

Kochava and Tune, two leading mobile technology providers, are AOL’s first partners helping to bring these new features to market.

“At Kochava, we are thrilled to be a part of the ONE by AOL platform program,” said Charles Manning, Kochava CEO. “Leading brands and agencies leverage AOL as a strategic partner in their media mix, and equally, Kochava is a demonstrated market leader in mobile app attribution. We are unique in that we provide cross device measurement, fractional and configurable attribution, and support for view thru attribution. Combined, advertisers are well served when working with AOL and Kochava together.”

“TUNE is very excited to work with the ONE by AOL platform on behalf of our clients. Enabling our clients to use their data to power programmatic buying on the AOL platform will help them realize even greater results from their campaigns,” said Kelly Mullins, Head of Programmatic at TUNE. “We also fully support the vision of an open ecosystem where marketers have complete ownership of their campaign data and can freely move that data amongst media companies.”

The number of mobile campaigns run programmatically by AOL grew 227 percent from Q4 2013 to Q4 2014, and 56 percent of AOL’s customers are now running cross-screen or omni-channel campaigns. U.S. mobile app install ad spending is set to hit $3 billion this year, comprising more than 10 percent of total mobile ad spending, according to eMarketer.

About AOL
AOL (NYSE: AOL) is a media technology company with a mission to simplify the Internet for consumers and creators by unleashing the world’s best builders of culture and code. As the 4th largest online property in the U.S., with approximately 200 million monthly consumers of its premium brands, AOL is at the center of disruption of how content is being produced, distributed, consumed and monetized by connecting publishers with advertisers on its global, programmatic content and advertising platforms. AOL’s opportunity lies in shaping the future of the digitally connected world for decades to come. Follow us on twitter @AOL_Inc.