How Engaged-View Attribution Works for Meta Advertising

Engaged-View Attribution provides a unique way to measure conversions without engagement with your video ads. It could be a sign of where attribution is heading.

Let’s take a closer squint at what Engaged-View Attribution is and how it fits in with Meta ads attribution generally. In this post, we’ll imbricate the following…

• What is Engaged-View Attribution?
• Placements and Skippable Video Ads
• View-Through Conversions
• Ad Set Attribution Setting
• Results and Compare Attribution
• Value of Engaged-View
• The Problem
• The Future of Ads Attribution
• When to Use
• Availability and Rollout

It’s a lot! Let’s go…

What Is It?

First, attribution is how Meta provides credit to your ads for conversions that typically occur on your website. Credit can be given to ads that received a click (within 1 or 7 days of the conversion) or only a view (within a day).

Meta defines Engaged-View Attribution as the following:

When someone plays 10 seconds of a skippable video ad, or watches at least 97% of the video ad, if the video ad is shorter than 10 seconds, this will count toward engaged-view attribution. The person watching the video moreover needs to convert on your razzmatazz objective within 24 hours.

Let’s simplify this. The pursuit all need to be true for Meta to count an Engaged-View conversion:

1. Someone views a “skippable” video ad
2. They watch that video for at least 10 seconds (or 97% if under 10 seconds)
3. They don’t click to your website
4. They end up converting within 24 hours

Meta provides the following example of an Engaged-View conversion:

Sharon sees a video ad for yoga on-demand matriculation in her Instagram Stories. She played the ad for increasingly than 10 seconds instead of skipping to the next story/video. She unfurled to slosh other content. The next day, she remembers the video and signs up for the on-demand yoga classes. In this scenario, Sharon signing up for yoga matriculation the next day would be attributed to the wayfarers as an Engaged-view conversion.

Skippable Video Ads

It’s important to understand that Engaged-View Attribution doesn’t wield to all video ads. Meta’s documentation specifically mentions “skippable” videos. The theorizing is that this doesn’t include any of the feeds, among other placements.

Using Meta’s ad specs for video placements, the pursuit placements are mentioned as stuff skippable:

• Facebook In-Stream Video Ads
• Facebook Reels
• Instagram Reels

If you’re sharp, you’ll point out that Meta’s own real-life example was for Instagram Stories. While the specs for this placement doesn’t mention it specifically stuff “skippable,” it does have a “Keep Watching” prompt which may qualify. If that’s the case, the pursuit placements are moreover skippable:

• Instagram Stories
• Facebook Stories
• Messenger Stories

Unfortunately, Meta’s documentation doesn’t list the specific placements that qualify, so we’ll need to make our own educated guesses.

Assuming that this doesn’t include feeds, of course, I have to wonder why that’s the case. While you can make the treatise that forced views (Audience Network Rewarded Video) lack the value of a truly engaged view, people have the worthiness to scroll past videos in their feed. If they stick virtually to watch a video in the feed for 10 seconds and ultimately convert within 24 hours, shouldn’t this be included among Engaged-View conversions?

And maybe it is, but Meta needs to clarify. If it doesn’t, it is unseat to create ravages among advertisers who are trying to determine the impact of their video ads.

View-Through Conversions

Meta didn’t do a unconfined job of clarifying that this is only for view-through conversions. But it’s found here within Meta’s documentation…

Without that line, it was unsaid in multiple ways but was never explicit. It’s important to remember this when looking at your results.

Engaged-View conversions will unchangingly be a segment of your 1-day view conversions. If someone views a skippable video ad for 10 seconds, clicks to your website, and then converts within a day, it will not be counted as an Engaged-View conversion. It falls within click conversion.

Ad Set Attribution Setting

To wangle the Engaged-View Attribution Setting, you’ll first need to use the Sales, Leads, or Engagement objective and select “Website” as the conversion location.

Make sure to select your pixel and conversion event, too. Then scroll lanugo a little within the section and click the “See Increasingly Options” link to see your Attribution Setting.

Hover to edit it, and you’ll see the pursuit drop-down menus…

This is a diamond change. Previously, there was one drop-down menu to select from the various click and view Attribution Settings. Now, you select click and view attribution windows separately, and there’s a third drop-down for Engaged-View.

Beyond that, nothing’s truly changed. The only click options are 7 days or 1 day.

The only view options are 1 day or none.

If you did select “none” for your view window, Engaged-View would not be available.

Otherwise, you’ll have the options of 1 day or none for Engaged-View.

Results and Compare Attribution

You can add context when viewing your results in Ads Manager to see how many conversions happened within an Engaged-View. Select “Compare Attribution Settings” from the Columns drop-down menu.

The Results post in your reporting will exhibit conversions that happened within the Attribution Setting you selected in your ad set by default. But you can add columns for each attribution window to see how that reporting breaks down.

Remember that you will only see Engaged-View for video ads that lead to a view-through conversion. The Engaged-View numbers will be included within the 1-day view numbers.

Here’s an example…

Let’s unravel lanugo what this means:

1. There are 92 total conversions between click and view attribution.
2. There are 54 total 1-day view conversions.
3. Of those 54 1-day view conversions, 9 are 1-day engaged-view.

In other words, there are 45 1-day view conversions that didn’t qualify as engaged-view (54 minus 9).

Value

What need does Engaged-View attribution fill? I think there are two primary areas where it can provide value.

1. Improved optimization. If you run a video ad with the goal of a website conversion, Engaged-View may modernize the signals that the algorithm focuses on. View-through conversions are often criticized considering you can pad your results through remarketing this way. This doesn’t help you. But if the algorithm focuses on engaged-view conversions in this case, you may see increasingly quality conversions.

2. Quality verification. The Compare Attribution Settings full-length can provide insight on the quality of your reported conversions. If you see that a upper percentage of your conversions are 1-day view, you may have less conviction in the results. But, if a greater percentage of those 1-day view conversions are Engaged-View, it would modernize your impressions of those results.

The Problem

My biggest issue with Engaged-View Attribution is that it’s for a very specific combination of situations. The results will be incomplete and surely misunderstood. Here’s why…

If I’m understanding Engaged-View correctly, it will not wield to Facebook or Instagram feeds (among several other placements). This is a potential issue, not only for reporting but optimization.

What does the algorithm do when a placement isn’t skippable? Does it only focus on the other conversion windows? If so, this setting is only used by the algorithm for a handful of your impressions.

The biggest issue is likely to be related to how we interpret reporting. If you’re running video ads for a conversion, the hope will be that a upper percentage of your 1-day view conversions are Engaged-View. But, that’s only possible if all of your conversions are from placements where skippable video ads can be played.

This will lead to a misunderstanding of your results. You may think you are getting lower-quality view-through conversions due to a lack of Engaged-View. But the reality is that most of your conversions may not have been eligible for Engaged-View in the first place.

One solution might be to unravel lanugo your results by placement (assuming you know precisely which placements qualify for skippable video ads). But, as of this moment, it does not towards that Meta breaks lanugo your Engaged-View conversions by placement.

In the example above, the 263 1-day view conversions are wrenched lanugo by placement, but the 22 1-day Engaged-View are not.

This all seems far too specialized and convoluted. Instead of stuff helpful, it’s unlikely to provide much increasingly than ravages for the typical advertiser.

The Future of Ads Attribution

While Engaged-View in its current form has a lot of issues, I still see some potential here. First, it’s important to recognize that Meta is doing something completely variegated by leveraging in-app engagement for conversion attribution. That’s new.

First, as I’ve said throughout above, why isolate this to skippable video ads? While I understand the treatise to eliminate forced-views from Engaged-View conversions, I honestly don’t know that it’s necessary. If you’re forced to watch a video and you converted within a day, it seems perfectly reasonable to suggest that the video contributed.

But, maybe we’re overthinking all of this. Why limit it to videos? Why not instead use some sort of standard for measuring an “engaged view” that applies to any format or placement?

What we want to eliminate is that ad that barely appears for a person surpassing they convert within a day. But, what if they reacted? Commented? Shared? Opened it? Stared at it in 100% view for 10 seconds? All of these things could be considered deep engagement for signals Meta could use for optimization and measurement.

Maybe it’s an expansion of Engaged-View to include other formats and variegated types of engagement. Even if it’s not, Meta’s shown the willingness to include in-app signals in this way where they hadn’t previously. It could midpoint a future shift in conversion attribution.

When to Use It

The obvious wordplay is when running a wayfarers where your performance goal is a website conversion and you use video ads. There’s probably no well-spoken reason (yet) not to use Engaged-View Attribution.

It’s important to remember that Engaged-View conversions are a segment of View-Through Attribution, which is normally a minority of your conversions anyway. And it’s only for a handful of placements.

In other words, we’re talking well-nigh a very specific use specimen and probably a very small number of conversions.

That use case, though, will find this valuable. When thinking well-nigh hypothetical scenarios where this will be most helpful, I come up with the pursuit points of focus…

1. Higher budgets. If Engaged-View Attribution is likely to represent the smallest segment of your conversions, higher budgets will likely be necessary to generate those conversions.

2. Remarketing. This may be the most valuable part of Engaged-View. If you target your email list or recent website visitors, many of your conversions may end up stuff from people who were served your ad (didn’t really see it) and would have gone to your website to convert within a day anyway. That leads to padding numbers and can devalue your conversion results.

But Engaged-View could provide remoter verification of the value of your view-through conversions. If you know that a large percentage of these people watched at least 10 seconds of your video surpassing converting, you may trust those results more.

3. Verbal CTAs. I’ve been trying to think of real-world scenarios that are likely to happen, and this is what I came up with: An influencer records a video showcasing your product and gives a verbal CTA to go to a shortened URL and buy the product. No link in the reprinting (or it wasn’t clicked). While this may be increasingly indicative of an organic video than an ad, it’s increasingly reflective of video conversions that could result in an Engaged-View now.

Availability

Engaged-View Attribution started rolling out to Meta advertisers in June of 2023. As of the stage of publication of this post, not everyone has it yet. There’s no official word on when it will be widely available.

Watch Videos

I recorded a couple of videos well-nigh Engaged-View Attribution, too. First, here’s an overview of what it is…

And here’s where I ask questions related to skippable videos and placements…

Your Turn

What do you think? How will you use Engaged-View Attribution?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post How Engaged-View Attribution Works for Meta Advertising appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.