Audience Pinpointer campaigns
An Audience Pinpointer campaign is a powerful user acquisition service that uses machine learning to help you find players most likely to have value beyond an initial app install - users who are most likely to continue playing your game. Using dynamic pricing (the price paid for impressions or installs depending on the predicted value of the user in your app), Audience Pinpointer allows you to bid more for predicted high-value users, and bid less for users who are likely to not continue playing your game after installation.
Overview
Unity’s machine-learning Audience Pinpointer model uses real-time user valuation at the time of an ad request. An algorithm determines a bid for each user based on individual valuation. The system updates constantly based on user behavior and the preferences of millions of users across Unity’s platform.
Audience Pinpointer offers two models (campaign goals) to choose from:
- Retention: A retention campaign goal acquires users who are more likely to use your app for seven or more days.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS): A return on ad spend campaign goal acquires users based on their predicted revenue in your app and return on ad spend during their first seven days in your app.
Optimize for retention
A retention campaign goal targets users likely to remain in your app at least seven days after installation. With this type of campaign strategy, the Audience Pinpointer feature uses dynamic pricing based on your base bid price and a user’s expected retention rate, allowing you to pay the best price across an entire user base.
To optimize for retention, set a base bid (otherwise known as a CPI, or cost-per-install bid) and a max bid that the Audience Pinpointer can adjust based on the individual user's expected day-seven retention (also known as D7 retention) in your app. You can think of D7 retention as the share of users playing your app on day seven after app installation. Unity determines this percentage after receiving at least one session event from the user within a 24-hour window starting 192 hours after the install event was recorded.
How retention optimization campaigns work
A baseline D7 retention in your app for the target audience you have selected might be 10%, which means 10% of users are playing your app on day seven after installing the app.
- Potential User 1 predicted D7 retention for your app might be 20%, or twice the average. Therefore, the bid for User 1 is your base bid x2.
- Potential User 2 predicted D7 retention for your app might be 5%, or half the average. Therefore, the bid for User 2 is base bid x0.5.
A retention campaign goal enables you to pay the best price for users based on the predicted retention behavior. Our Audience Pinpointer algorithm ensures you are not overbidding for users who are likely to not play your app after installation, and that you bid the best price for users who are likely to continue using your app at least seven days after installation.
Optimize for return on ad spend
A return on ad spend (ROAS) campaign goal targets users predicted to generate revenue through in-app purchases and/or watching ads. This type of campaign strategy uses dynamic bids to acquire users at the best price. A ROAS campaign goal includes three optimization types: in-app purchases (IAP), ad revenue, or hybrid (both IAP and ad revenue).
Whether specifying an ad revenue or in-app purchase optimization type, revenue-based campaigns help you achieve your return on ad spend (ROAS) campaign goals. You can also understand this as:
The revenue a player generates in their first seven days playing your app ÷ The cost to acquire these users
How ROAS campaigns work
Your maximum bid may be $20 and your target D7 ROAS goal set as 10%, meaning that, during their first seven days in the app, users should spend 10% of the amount you bid to acquire them.
- Potential User 1 is predicted to generate $1 of revenue during their first seven days in the app. Therefore, the CPI bid for Potential User 1 is $10 ($1 / 0.1 = $10, which is within your maximum bid range).
- Potential User 2 is predicted to generate $5 of revenue during their first seven days in the app. Therefore, the CPI bid for Potential User 2 is $20 ($5 / 0.1 = $50. Since this value exceeds your $20 maximum bid cap, the campaign bids at your maximum bid instead of the calculated bid).
Note: Running install-optimizing campaigns (campaigns with a static CPI bid) simultaneously with Audience Pinpointer campaigns may improve Audience Pinpointer campaign performance, especially on Android and in smaller geographic areas where the total number of installs from Audience Pinpointer campaigns may be low.
Get started
Audience Pinpointer campaigns work very well alongside standard install-optimization campaigns, because they each optimize towards a different goal: installs, retention, or return on ad spend. You can decide your campaign structure based on your user acquisition goals.
Implement Audience Pinpointer campaigns in three basic steps:
- Enable passing post-install session events, purchase events, or ad revenue events to Unity, based on your desired campaign goals.
- Meet eligibility requirements. Because Audience Pinpointer campaigns work across determined geographical locations, your game must meet certain minimum requirements in order to run revenue or retention campaigns in specific regions.
- Create an Audience Pinpointer campaign with retention or return on ad spend campaign goals.
Next steps: Review eligibility requirements for Audience Pinpointer campaigns.