Charles Manning is the Founder and CEO of Kochava, the leading mobile attribution analytics platform serving tier-one advertisers worldwide. For nearly 20 years Charles has been creating technologies that use data for system optimization, ranging from business service management (BSM) to information technology (IT) to attribution analytics, and most recently blockchain. Charles began his career at Oracle, and later held executive and C-Level positions at M-Code, Managed Objects, and PLAYXPERT.
Prior to founding Kochava, Charles founded PLAYXPERT – which started as a gaming technology platform. After licensing the PLAYXPERT technology to Razer, Charles built a team that focused its time on building engagement platforms for entrepreneurs and agencies. Upon realizing that there were no standard platforms providing effective attribution or post-install analytics in mobile – Charles and his team built one, and Kochava was born. The Kochava technology is now integrated with more than 3,500 networks and publishers and is trusted by hundreds of brands including the biggest names in mobile gaming, news and media, and consumer goods.
Hi, I’m Charles Manning. I’m the CEO of Kochava.
Kochava is a real-time data solutions company. We help performance marketers establish identity,
define and activate audiences, and measure and optimize their omni-channel marketing across
connected devices.
I founded Kochava in 2011 to provide mobile attribution technology at a time when mobile as a platform
was really taking off. Apps were brand new, but we believed they would become ubiquitous and brands
didn’t have a good solution for tracking their advertising over mobile.
We built the industry’s best mobile attribution technology, becoming the vertical expert in mobile by
meeting the demands of our customers, but what we really built was a framework for true holistic, omnichannel measurement. It was clear to me from the start that at some point, mobile would no longer be
splintered as an individual media source, that it would become part of a broader array of connected
devices and display. In today’s world, people move seamlessly from mobile to desktop to tablet, all while
interacting with other connected devices in the course of their daily lives.
Advertisers want to understand and connect with their customers, not just over mobile. Some
platforms are best to broadcast messages (like TV, CTV, and OTT) and others are best suited to engage
on a 1:1 basis (like mobile). The key to success for advertisers is to leverage all media channels to tell
an integrated story of engaging with consumers. Further, we believe advertisers should measure
everything, both owned and paid efforts, accurately and with great granularity, so they can make
informed decisions about their marketing spend and publisher partners, find their best audiences,
and achieve their growth goals. So whether the message is brand-focused or performance-driven,
advertisers need a single solution that brings it together—across all channels and across all formats.
We’ve been providing attribution, analytics, identity resolution, and data services to top enterprise
brands for almost a decade and we’ve found that by doing all of these things together—in a single
solution—we make ad buying efficient and actionable. Our customers believe that Kochava is the
difference-maker in ensuring that their ad spend is effective.
Our customers have a very diverse set of owned initiatives, and we’re seeing our technology used to
track all of them. Email campaigns, blogging initiatives, QR codes that are being printed on postcards
or out of home posters, social posts, and of course company websites and partner websites. Our
customers are also using our measurement to track user-to-user referrals, partner channel efforts, as
well as push notifications, SMS, and in-app messaging campaigns.
In addition to paid media efforts for Facebook, Google, traditional ad networks and affiliates, Kochava
also supports Out-of-Home, OTT/CTV, and Linear TV. No other measurement technology has the
coverage to support traditional MMP media sources like Facebook—while also supporting FireTV
exposure with mobile app ‘action’ to connect the feedback loop for a brand. We are achieving this for
our customers.
But, fast forward to 2020, and the digital marketing industry has a serious problem on its hands. As all
advertisers know, the consumer is at the heart of every digital experience.
For each brand and advertiser, the goal is authentic, valuable connection with their customers in order
to improve their offerings and expand their audiences and customer base. Advertisers have a couple of
major challenges to overcome. ONE: Today’s consumer engages with a very complex array of connected
devices, and TWO: Increasing data privacy regulations and policies limit an advertiser’s ability to
understand the IDENTITY of their consumer across these devices and use cases. Without a common
mechanism to identify users across channels—in a privacy safe way—advertisers and publishers face an
uphill battle to promote their brands and monetize their ad-supported products.
The 500-billion-dollar advertising ecosystem lacks a common identity strategy to continue to connect
with their customers while respecting their privacy and complying with ever-changing regulations.
Over the past few years, user privacy has achieved paramount importance for consumers, governments,
brands and advertisers. Even as advertisers are striving to keep up with the changes in how their
customers interact with technology, access and identifiers are being removed, restricted, or changed.
Let’s look at recent industry developments and announcements that complicate this issue:
• Regulations like GDPR in Europe in 2018 and CCPA in California in 2020 placed limitations and
requirements around what data can be collected and persisted about consumers.
• Changes regarding support for third-party cookie deprecation removed static identifiers for
platform providers in Q1 of 2020.
• In June, Apple announced an opt-in requirement for its device IDFA identifier, a restriction that
will be released with iOS 14 in the fall.
So, how will advertisers solve for consumer identity in the absence of traditional device identifiers?
How will brands continue to serve and connect with their customers accurately and seamlessly on their
preferred devices? How will advertisers deal with the next update to these regulations or platforms, and
the next, and the next?
Brands will either need to build in-house technology to map out their customer-facing identity graph,
or leverage a turn-key solution, like Kochava, that aligns their customer graph and links it to the
broader ecosystem.
What advertisers and media providers need today is a comprehensive, privacy-first omni-channel
measurement solution from a proven, third-party partner. One who’s independent of the media and able
to verify transactions on both sides. Perhaps even more valuable, is a measurement partner who is one
step ahead in this constantly-evolving ecosystem, ready to innovate at every, inevitable, turn.
Kochava has been innovating to meet the needs of advertisers, while respecting the privacy of their
consumers, for a decade. We have positioned Kochava to prioritize privacy and trust, superior customer
service, and to solve for every new twist and turn whether it’s a government regulation or a policy
change from a major network partner.
What’s more, while our history may have been supporting advertisers, the focus on privacy regulations
has provided an opportunity to also serve publishers, with first-party measurement solutions.
With the advent of increased privacy regulations, publishers are increasingly constrained from sharing
their first-party data with brands that purchase their inventory. Kochava has innovated to deliver thirdparty-verified measurement for publishers that can be trusted by brands and actionable across the
ecosystem. We call this Kochava Embedded Measurement.
Brands today are reeling from recent announcements by Apple about the scheduled fall, 2020 release
of iOS14 which will include two impactful changes for advertisers: 1) IDFA opt-in requirements and the
App Tracking Transparency Framework, and 2) Apple’s SkadNetwork and its implications for advertisers
and publishers.
If you are an advertiser, Kochava already has you covered on these issues. If, however, you are a
publisher, you are being asked to provide new technology capabilities you’ve never had to deliver. Let’s
take a closer look.
First, Apple changed the rules for collecting the IDFA, the identifier for advertisers on Apple mobile
devices like iPhones, by introducing the App Tracking Transparency Framework. Now, by default, the
IDFA will be unavailable. It will require app-level opt-in by the user and the app, in order for advertisers
to collect the IDFA. This means we can expect a significant increase in devices without IDFA, and it
presents new obstacles to addressability and targeting.
It will also pose problems to advertisers trying to monetize their apps, and will force them to rely
more on probabilistic attribution. Probabilistic attribution is nothing new. We’ve been fine tuning
our attribution waterfall and optimizing our toolset for many years. Kochava provides 60 times the
granularity of lookback window customization, or scaling, compared to any other measurement
provider, which takes probabilistic attribution to a new level of accuracy.
For publishers, we provide first-party trafficked signal, SKAd-signed collection, and data redaction and
syndication.For those advertisers who are both an advertiser AND an inventory source, or publisher,
Kochava offers THE turnkey solution for cross-promotion measurement.
Next, Apple’s approach to privacy-safe attribution has taken form in the SKAdNetwork,
a storekit capability designed to preserve the privacy of Apple users to a new level. It creates a new
form of signal for advertisers to digest in order to determine the efficacy of their ad campaigns.
SKAdNetwork presents significant limitations that make the relationship with a trusted Measurement
Partnership more vital than ever.
Advertisers will need to ingest deterministic, probabilistic AND SKAdNetwork signal, and synthesize
these three signals in a way that demonstrates conversion, informs advertisers on directional success of
campaigns, and enables holistic box-balancing of various efforts.
The differences between traditional deterministic and probabilistic campaign results vs. SKAdNetwork
signal are vast. There are a number of critical elements advertisers are accustomed to receiving, and
which they can’t get with SKAdNetwork. These include:
• View-through attribution
• Row-level install or in-app conversion reporting
• Reengagement support
• Device and user-level visibility
• Real-time postback signals for optimization
• Multi-touch attribution with reporting of influencers
• Attribution configurability
Kochava provides every one of these important metrics, and the good news is, when combined with
SKAdNetwork, Kochava offers advertisers the most holistic view covering both real-time signal and
delayed SKAd signal within a single dashboard.
Kochava also supports the heavy lifting of SKAdNetwork integration on behalf of our advertiser
customers. Since SKAdNetwork also creates challenges for Ad Networks and Media Partners, Kochava
provides support to these partners included with the latest partner integration update.
Separate from our efforts to serve advertisers, Kochava also provides tools for publishers. The biggest
challenge with SKAdNetwork is the responsibility it places on ad networks and publishers to ingest,
syndicate, store, and report on SKAdNetwork postback data.
Kochava has a solution for this. Through Embedded Measurement from Kochava, key challenges can
be addressed and mitigated. Our Embedded Measurement solution enables DSP’s, ad networks and
publishers to embed first-party measurement and attribution technology into their OWN supply side
platform, enabling them to measure their inventory directly. It also provides supply side SKAdNetwork
support with the needed SaaS infrastructure for 24/7/365 availability and reliability.
Key Embedded Measurement benefits include the abilities to:
• Outsource infrastructure needs for real-time click and impression measurement and attribution
• Support URL measurement across all MMPs
• Reduce data discrepancies with MMPs
• Control attribution logic and lookback windows
• Control what data you share with advertisers
• Facilitate cross-device attribution via “Best Match Available” mode
Now that we’ve covered Kochava’s comprehensive solutions for advertisers and networks moving into
the era of iOS14, as well as the expanded offering of Embedded Measurement for enterprise network
advertisers, let’s talk about first-party data. As an advertiser, your own first-party data is key; it’s the
language through which you understand your customer in order to make decisions about your business.
So how can advertisers expand this critical asset in a privacy-first way? You need a comprehensive
identity solution that enables you to onboard, enrich, and manage the permissions of your data. One
that you can drive your partners to use, providing turnkey, clean-room match capabilities.
Kochava hosts the world’s largest independent mobile-first data marketplace, the Kochava Collective,
and is uniquely positioned to link devices and profiles between various ecosystem parties. With
over 8 Billion devices via the Kochava Collective and our Free App Analytics product, and over 1.7
Billion device-email pairs, our Identity Solution acts as the tissue between advertisers and publishers,
enabling devices to be glued together even where no other insights are available. The Collective has
over 90 Million households modeled with over 220 Million monthly active devices connected to those
households. These various elements come together to link customers’ perspectives of identity in a userconsent-compliant, permissioned manner. It’s unlike any other available solution.
Kochava customers can leverage the Collective’s first-party data to:
• Onboard mobile-first data on your existing IDFA footprint
• Achieve more holistic user profiles with audience enrichment
• Discover householded devices for audience extension
• Discover other apps on device for direct deals
Kochava was founded because of the need for insight behind advertising campaigns, and since 2011 we
have been working to bridge gaps in the industry for marketers. The loss of the IDFA is no exception.
We are prepared and poised to continue leading the industry in exciting new directions as we evolve
and grow while always putting privacy first. The largest apps in the world choose Kochava as their
trusted measurement partner. Our customers’ apps boast over five times more monthly active users
and over three times more revenue per user on average, than apps using other measurement partners.
Brands who prioritize performance, rely on Kochava to help them harness their data to achieve their
goals. Kochava is a privately held company, focused on customer-driven innovation and the best
technology solutions in the industry. With 160 employees, Kochava is headquartered in Northern Idaho,
has representation in all US regions, and offices in Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, and Dublin to serve brands and
advertisers globally.
Kochava was born to serve enterprise brands who are serious about performance and growth. We
are proud to be trusted by top brands in gaming, media, QSR, Hospitality, and many other verticals.
Everything we’ve developed in our solution stack was driven by the needs and wishes of our customers
along the way. Let’s look at a few examples.
For a large enterprise game publisher we’re facilitating cross-promotional attribution on first-party,
privacy-safe identifiers. They have their own first-party audience universe that offers seamless user
acquisition potential against their latest titles. Our solutions help them facilitate direct deals and Private
Marketplace opportunities.
Kochava is helping one quick-service restaurant brand measure the incremental lift of their Connected
TV ad campaigns over the nation’s largest OTT/CTV platform. We were able to show a significant,
measurable increase in installs, the time interval between ad exposure and increased installs, and the
ideal exposure rate to inform the customer of the optimal frequency of ad placement for their
next campaign.
In another example, a major sports franchise created an Out of Home campaign for their video
streaming app, promoting on billboards in strategic locations across the country. They wanted to
calculate an accurate return on ad spend, to measure mobile engagement driven by their Out of
Home efforts. Kochava correlated the app’s first-party mobile engagement data and mapped it to their
billboard displays by latitude and longitude, looking at down-funnel conversions. The results showed a
65% download completion rate for devices exposed to the billboards, and ten times the video streams
per download when compared to customers who had not been exposed to the Out of Home campaign.
These are great examples of Kochava serving the exacting needs of the enterprise with the highest
quality experience in everything from our tech to our user interface, to our support interactions,
but there’s also good news for smaller companies and startups: We offer a free version of Kochava
for those who are just starting out, and the lightweight Free Growth SDK is the same as that in our
enterprise solutions. This means that any advertiser or brand, regardless of size or budget, can be in a
great position for growth by working with Kochava. Start for as little a “FREE,” and add features and
services to meet your specific requirements as you grow.
Every customer has unique needs, and Kochava’s legendary customer support team is known for their
speedy response and personal touch at tailoring solutions to meet those specific situations.
Our dedication to customer-driven innovation, and the best customer service in the industry are the
two elements that really make Kochava stand out from the competition. But at this point in time, with
the industry facing such specific challenges around identity solutions, it’s the breadth of Kochava’s
offerings that position us as the secret weapon for success for advertisers and publishers alike.
Having a partner with complete solutions in the areas of data management, holistic measurement,
user experience, fraud prevention, and a data marketplace for first-party data enrichment, all in one
dashboard, makes life much easier for our customers. We put advertisers in a position to focus on their
goals and tweak the knobs to optimize their ad spend, all while remaining in compliance and protecting
user privacy. No other measurement partner offers such a comprehensive set of synergistic tools.
Thanks for listening to our tech talk today.
I love sharing about how Kochava is serving customers, and
we’d love to have the opportunity to serve you as well. Visit us at kochava.com to learn more or chat
with someone from our team who can help you get started.