FAQ

Advertising

Why am I being charged for installs even though my campaign is paused? 🔗

  • Chartboost ads are cached for 24 hours. Cached ads can still be served to users for 24 hours after a campaign has been paused.
  • Chartboost uses a 21-day attribution window. After clicking on your ad, a user has a 21-day window to download and install your app. You are charged for installs that are delivered during this period.
  • Adding together the 24-hour caching and the 21-day attribution window, you might see charges for installs 22 days after pausing your advertisement campaign.

Can I advertise on the Chartboost network using a mediation SDK? 🔗

Yes! Use server-to-server (S2S) tracking for install attribution.

How long does it take to approve an advertising campaign? 🔗

It takes 24 to 48 hours to approve an advertising campaign, depending on the campaign.

What bid types does Chartboost offer? 🔗

With Chartboost, you can bid in several ways:

  • CPI (cost per install) bidding lets you specify the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for installs resulting from clicks on ads promoting your game.
  • CPM (cost per thousand impressions) bidding lets you pay based on the number of times your ad is shown.

CPM and CPI bid type campaigns are available in every creative type.

How much should I bid for installs? How much should I spend on a campaign? 🔗

Can I use Chartboost to target Android users in China? 🔗

Yes! Here are some things you should know:

  • If your app does not have a Google Play URL, you must use a creative URL when uploading creatives to an advertising campaign. These creative URLs work for all bid types.
  • Advertisers must still enter a marketing URL in the advertising campaign. Feel free to use the marketing URL for Buster’s Boost, the greatest game ever. Whatever marketing URL you use, the creative URL will override it.
  • If your app is available on multiple local Chinese app stores, you will need to create separate targeted campaigns using device targeting for each app store. You will also need to upload separate creative sets with separate creative URLs.

How can I acquire more users? 🔗

  • Optimize your campaign!
  • A/B test your creatives to serve better-performing impressions!
  • Filter out games whose players don’t interact well with your ads.
  • Bid aggressively at first, and use targeting to reach different markets and devices in different ways.

How can I avoid going over budget? 🔗

  • Optimize your campaigns to target users better and maximize your potential reach. This helps you get the most out of your budget.
  • Set up email notifications to let you know when you’re approaching your budget limit.
  • Daily budgets under $500 are often exhausted very quickly or even exceeded.
  • Spending more than you’ve added to your account will result in a negative balance. You won’t be able to advertise again until you add more funds to your account.

Chartboost has a 21-day attribution window for installs. If a user who has clicked on your ad boots up your app for the first time within 21 days, the cost will be deducted from your advertising balance, even if your CPI campaign has already stopped serving impressions.

Chartboost has a 7-day attribution window for clicks. If a user has clicked on your ad, the cost will be deducted from your advertising balance up to 7 days after your campaign has already stopped serving impressions.

What is eCPM? Why does it matter as an advertiser? 🔗

Effective Cost Per Mile (eCPM) is the crucial metric our system uses to decide which advertising campaign to serve in a given publishing campaign. Because Chartboost advertisers bid per click or install (instead of per impression), the Chartboost eCPM is a combination of a campaign’s Install Rate (IR), Click-Through-Rate (CTR), and bid that reflects the overall competitiveness of the campaign. So the better your ads perform, the more high-quality traffic you receive. Review our Optimization Tips & Best Practices to improve your campaigns.

Can you estimate how many clicks or installs my game will receive at a certain bid? 🔗

It’s difficult to predict because our network is dynamic and new developers join every day. Remember that the traffic you receive also depends on your eCPM (a combination of IR, CTR, and bid), so it’s not as simple as starting with a given bid and expecting a set number of clicks/installs. Use your account’s analytic tools to identify and respond to trends over time. Otherwise, we can work with you to optimize your campaigns.

How can my advertising campaign get more clicks, installs, or completed views? 🔗

After our system retrieves a pool of advertising campaigns that match the conditions set by ad locations, it serves the best-performing advertising campaign to the publishing game. We measure performance with the eCPM metric, ordinarily defined as the effective cost per thousand impressions served (eCPM = Money spent or earned / Impressions * 1000). But because Chartboost advertisers bid per click or install (instead of per impression), Chartboost eCPM is a combination of a campaign’s Install Rate (IR), Click-Through-Rate (CTR), and bid that reflects the overall competitiveness of the campaign.

Bottom line: The better your ads perform, the more high-quality traffic you receive.

For tips to boost your performance and maximize ROI, review our Optimization Tips & Best Practices.

What is view-through attribution (VTA)? 🔗

View-through attribution (VTA) allows you to register installs that are seen when a user installs your app within a short timeframe after watching a video ad, even if the user did not click on the ad.

  • Capture the true reach of your UA campaigns versus traditional last-click methods.
  • More installs mean a higher eCPM, which can help your campaigns become more competitive within the Chartboost network.

What if I can’t find my game in the “App to Promote” dropdown on the Campaign Edit page? 🔗

There are a few things you’ll need to do before you can select your game in the App to Promote dropdown:

  • Check that the URL (Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Amazon AppStore) field on the App Settings page is complete and points to your game’s store listing.

  • Be sure you’ve uploaded advertising assets to promote your game. Review our Creative Assets guidelines for more information.

Before you can save a network advertising campaign, your account balance needs to be greater than or equal to the campaign’s daily budget. To add funds or transfer them from your publishing earnings, navigate to Billing & Payments > Add Funds.

Cross-Promotion campaigns only: If you’re setting up a cross-promotion and trying to advertise an app that has not opted out of behavioral tracking inside an app that has opted out, the publishing app (which has opted out) won’t appear in the App to Promote dropdown (and vice versa). Only opted-out apps can advertise in other opted-out apps.

What is your install attribution window? 🔗

To attribute an install to your advertising campaign, a user must boot up your game within 21 days of clicking on your ad. We log a bootup each time our system receives an initialization call from your game, so be sure your code makes this call each time your app becomes active.

Can I change my bids by publisher? Can I target a specific game category or publisher? 🔗

  • To assign different bids to specific publishers, please contact your account manager or our support team. We’re more than happy to help you optimize your ad inventory.
  • You can apply filters to your campaigns or use advanced targeting to reach specific genres, player types, genders, and more.

Does Chartboost support rewarded installs? 🔗

Sorry, we don’t support rewarded installs.

How does iOS Limit Ad Tracking affect my campaigns? 🔗

  • Ads will not show on iOS 10+ devices if the publisher is running Chartboost iOS SDK below version 6.5. Download the latest Chartboost iOS SDK now!
  • Additionally, apps being promoted in advertising campaigns must use a compatible third-party attribution service. If the advertising app is not using a compatible third-party attribution service, it will not be able to deliver ads to iOS 10 devices with Limit Ad Tracking, even if the host publishing app is using Chartboost iOS SDK 6.5 or above. This also applies to cross-promotion campaigns.

How do I know which apps to filter from my campaigns? 🔗

We highly recommend letting Chartboost decide which apps appear in your campaign. Follow these instructions only if you need to filter apps for business reasons (e.g. competing or similar apps).

Here’s how to figure out which apps to filter using Microsoft Excel:

  • Go to the Campaign Analytics panel in your Chartboost platform.
  • Under Filter By Campaign Or App dropdown, select Campaigns.

  • Use the text field to search for and select the campaign you want to analyze.

  • Select a timeframe from the Time Range dropdown. We recommend using Last 7 Days.
  • Under the Group By dropdown, select App
  • Click the refresh button to generate your report.

  • Click the download button to export your data as a TSV file. Learn more about report formatting

  • Open the TSV file in Microsoft Excel.
  • Select all of the data in the sheet, then click Data > Pivot Table from the top menu.

  • Add To App Name to Row Labels. Add Sum of Impressions, Sum of Clicks, Sum of Installs, and Sum of Money Earned to Values.

  • Calculate the eCPM in column F using the formula =E5/B5 * 1000 in cell F5, then extend that formula into the rest of the column. You can also format this whole column as currency to help with readability.
  • eCPM is the most important, but you may also want to consider the click-through rate (clicks/impressions) and the install rate (installs/clicks). Not all apps track installs, so don’t be alarmed if some show 0 installs.
  • Your average overall eCPM will be at the bottom right of your new table. Copy this pivot table into another worksheet and sort by eCPM to easily see which apps have the lowest relative eCPM and should be filtered from campaigns.
  • If you’re thinking about filtering an app, consider the share of impressions it delivers for your app or receives in your app. For example, an app might be slightly below your average eCPM but serving a large percentage of your impressions; you may not want to exclude this app from your campaign. If you filter too many impressions, you might have problems filling your ad inventory. On the other hand, it’s probably not worth filtering a whole bunch of apps with only a handful of impressions.
  • Once you’ve figured out which apps to filter, click on the two links below to learn how to filter them from your campaigns.

We recommend that you do not exceed 1,500 apps filtered in a single campaign.

Any changes made to the platform may take up to 30 minutes to go live.

If you filter out an app and a user has already cached an ad for that app on their device, that ad can still be shown for up to 24 hours.

What if I can’t find the app I want to filter? 🔗

Let us know! Please include the name and ID of the app you need removed.

How long should I keep filters applied? 🔗

Because things change often in the network, we recommend removing filters every few weeks, reassessing which games offer low eCPMs, then excluding that updated list. You may be surprised at the difference between the two groups!