Reporting and analytics best practices#

Ask good questions#

What stories does your data tell? With so much information at your disposal, it’s important to know what questions to ask, and how to effectively communicate those insights using narratives and visualizations. This topic provides some suggestions to get started.

Which OS versions should I support?#

Keeping your game and creatives backwards-compatible can be expensive. Is it worth it to keep supporting older systems? You might have this question about iOS devices. Here is one approach to find out using Report Builder Data Cubes:

1. Open the Campaign Data cube.
2. Add the Platform dimension to the FILTER bar, and select ios from its expandable option menu.
3. Add the OS Version dimension to the SHOW bar, to get a breakdown of campaign performance by iOS operating system version.
4. Change the time frame to Latest 30 days, to ensure a large enough data sample to inform your decision.

You’ll end up with a report that looks like this:

Select the column headers to sort the data according to the metrics you find most valuable. If your campaign goals go beyond installs, try adding more measures to the report view. Consider experimenting with different chart types to explore what patterns start to emerge.

Where are my ads performing well?#

Understanding where your campaigns are performing well or underperforming can help you refine your bidding strategy, or lead you to reconsider swapping out creative packs for certain regions. For example:

1. Open the Campaign Data cube.
2. Add the Country dimension to the FILTER bar, and select the countries you want to examine from its expandable option menu.
3. Add the Country and Ad Type dimensions to the SHOW bar, to get a breakdown of campaign performance by ad type per country.
4. Change the time frame to Latest 30 days, to ensure a large enough data sample to inform your decision.

You’ll end up with a report that looks like this:

In this example, you might notice that video ads served in Australia are performing especially well.

Select the row labeled video to review more information about this, then Select.

Notice that by narrowing your scope to AU and video, the filters at the top also change.

Select the column headers to sort the data according to the metrics you find most valuable. If you want an even more granular look, add the Campaign Name dimension to the SHOW bar to discover which ads are boosting performance in Australia. You can also apply that knowledge to future campaigns.

To tell an effective story with data, you might need to filter out the noise. For example, if your campaign reaches 30 countries, it can be overwhelming to review. Instead, you can limit the report results to display the top 10 countries according to a specified metric. This can also help you understand where to focus your time and energy. To do so:

1. Add the dimension you want to look at (in this case Country) to the SHOW bar.
2. Select the dimension to expand its options menu.
3. Use the SORT BY field to specify the measure you want to filter (in this case Installs), and the LIMIT field to filter the number of results that appear in the report (in this case 10).

How are my campaigns trending over time?#

Comparing changes between time frames helps identify positive or negative campaign trends. For example, to explore how your installs and eCPM for this quarter compared to the previous quarter, do the following:

1. In the FILTER bar, change the time frame to Current quarter.
2. In the MEASURE window, select the overflow icon to bring up the context menu, then select Compare to add a new field to the view.
3. In the COMPARE field, select Previous period from the drop-down menu.

Your data comparing quarters now appears side by side. Red and green indicators display if the change is positive (green) or negative (red).