Terminology

ATT - App Tracking Transparency sets limits for data that can be gained by advertisers and publishers while giving mobile users the freedom on where they want to give out their online activities.This framework is designed to prevent apps from taking user’s data without their consent and such sweeping changes have made it harder for marketers and ad campaigners to target users  as exactly as previously.
‍

ARPU - Average Revenue Per User is calculated by dividing the total revenue generated by the total number of users for a given cohort over a given time frame (e.g. Day 30 ARPU is the average revenue generated by a user within 30 days of an install). ARPU is a basic KPI used to monitor user value over a specific period of time, evaluate quality, and determine performance at various levels of a game. 

ARPU = Total Revenue / Total Number of Users in Cohort
‍

Banner Ads are usually the small ad that appears on the top of the website. It is unobtrusive and remains stable when users scroll down the web.
‍

Churn is the number of customers who stop using your app for a particular period of time or have uninstalled your app on their device are called churned users, this is either because they stop using the service or as they change to another supplier.
‍

Cohort is a group of game users that share similarity and therefore are grouped together. Their similarity can be region, IAP or installation date. The cohort analysis enables the developers to observe their LTV, ROI as well as RR.
‍

Conversion rate is the percentage of users who have completed a certain action. E.g. click on an ad.
‍

CX is the customer experience that your apps can bring to our customers. Since CX or ROX (Return on Experience) is oftentimes intangible, it includes user satisfaction and assertive support, cross-user interactions and a couple of other metrics and thus leaving this factor is hard to measure in quantity.
‍

Deep Linking consists of using a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that links to a specific location within a mobile app rather than simply launching the app. Deferred deep linking allows users to deep link to content even if the app is not already installed. Depending on the mobile device platform, the URI required to trigger the app may be different.
‍

DSP - Demand-Side Platform is a system that allows buyers of digital advertising inventory to manage multiple ad exchanges and data exchange accounts through one interface. Real-time bidding for displaying online advertising takes place within the ad exchanges, and by utilizing a DSP, marketers can manage their bids for the banners and the pricing for the data that they are layering on to target their audiences. 

Much like Paid Search, using DSPs allows users to optimize based on set Key Performance Indicators such as effective cost per click (eCPC), and effective cost per action (eCPA).
‍

Fill Rate refers to the number of times (percentage) an ad request is filled by an ad network.
‍

First-Party Data is information that a brand has collected through a direct relationship with its consumers. This data is therefore owned by the advertising brands itself: Facebook, Apple, Google, and AppLovin are all examples of advertising brands. 
‍

Gachas are vouchers given to users who frequently use app’s features.
‍

GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation is a European Union (EU) law that regulates how personal data can be used, processed, and stored.
‍

GAID - Google Advertiser Identity is a device identifier for advertisers that allows them to anonymously track users' online activity on Android devices while keeping user privacy secure.
‍

IDFA - Identifier for Advertisers is the ID attached to each user’s device by Apple. In Android, every user also has their own identifier version called Android Advertising ID, or GAID. This ID works as an identifier informing marketers about user’s ad preferences and recent interests so that advertisers know what is best to display on their devices.
‍

IDFV - Identifier for Vendor is a code created by an app developer and assigned to all of their apps. This code is also shared between all of the apps created by the developer. The IDFV value is the same for apps from the same developer running on the same device. IDFVs provide a way to run cross-promotional iOS campaigns, which include Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) users without relying on fingerprinting. So long as an IDFV is passed in the tracker URLs, the IDFV can provide marketers with more accurate attribution data for iOS campaigns.
‍

Impression is the count of ad views. As on the same device, when a user opens an app again and they encounter the repetitive view of your ad, it is also counted as another impression for advertisers as well.
‍

In-App Bidding allows mobile publishers to offer their ad inventory in an auction where all advertisers can participate simultaneously in a fair competition for ad space.
‍

In-app events are actions taken by acquired users after they have installed our app. This metric allows app developers to understand users' post-install activities.
‍

IAP - In-app Purchase is one of the source of revenue for mobile apps. This includes in-app subscriptions or purchases such as character's skins, weapons etc.
‍

Interstitial ads is the full-screen ad that appears in mobile game apps.
‍

K-Factor indicates how many organic users you have as a result of your paid campaigns. These users are usually invited to join a game by your paid users. 

K = No. of invites sent by each user / Conversion rate of each invite
‍

KPIs - Key Performance Indicators is a metric used to display the level of success of an app or business. KPIs can measure various areas including app or game performance, user acquisition, monetization strategies, progress towards goals, and overall business performance.
‍

LAT - Limit Ad Tracking is a function that allows mobile users to go to their setting section and turn on/ off LAT. Once they choose to turn on LAT,  IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers)  stops sharing their data with advertisers.
‍

LiveOps - Live Operations refers to the changes made to a game platform in a way that it does not require app developers to reinvent the wheel or change into a new app. This feature is occasionally done in order to increase user engagement and better experience.
‍

MAU - Monthly Active User is the count of users that are active in playing games over a period of 30 days and in this metric, each user is unique and no user id is counted twice.
‍

Mediation platforms centralize access to multiple ad networks, leveraging an optimization algorithm to determine which mediated ad network can fill the app developer’s inventory with the highest CPM.Additionally, mediation platforms consolidate many ad networks into just one SDK (Software Development Kit) integration.

Note: Having too many SDK integrations can affect an app’s performance, slowing it down and causing unforeseen irregularities in the app’s user experience - also known as SDK bloat.

MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games could also be a type of MMO (massive multiplayer online) game.
‍

MMPs - Mobile Measurement Partners that are used for tracking ad campaigns across multiple channels. MMPs is by providing data metrics allowing UA publishers and marketers to optimize top campaigns to drive their app growth.
‍

Mobile Attribution is the science of matching two data points, such as attributing ad spend to user engagement or installs based on certain variables. Attribution creates an understanding of what happens when a user interacts with a mobile ad.
‍

Organic Install is a user app install not through any paid ads channel. In contrast, if an install is taken out from a user seeing online ads and then comes to install your platform, it is a non-organic install.
‍

Paid Mobile Games are games paid in advance for their usage. These games are expected not to have ads interrupting the user's experience.
‍

Postback or Call back is the real-time notifications for app developers when an in-app event or app installs happen, helping them know when and how their app is acquiring users.
‍

Real-Time Bidding is the process in which digital advertising inventory is bought and sold. This process occurs in less than a second. In this process, demand-side platforms (DSPs), which are on the advertiser side, and supply-side platforms (SSPs), which are on the publisher side, buy and sell ad inventory. In an RTB (real-time bidding) auction, DSPs bid in real-time on ad inventory supplied by SSPs.
‍

SDK is a set of tools for third-party developers to produce applications using a particular framework or platform.
‍

Simulation Games are constructive game genres, its aim is to teach you real-world skills like fishing or farming.
‍

SK in both SKAdNetwork and SKOverlay stands for StoreKit in IOS. This Apple’s framework helps to boost the interaction with App Store as it relates to in-app purchases, which permits app developers to monetize their app while charging for an install.
‍

Stickiness is the number of days users visit your app within 30 days. 

Stickiness = (DAU / MAU) * 30
‍

SSP - Supply-side Platform is a platform that allows publishers to manage their inventory for advertising.
‍

Tracker is a link incorporated into a campaign allowing advertisers to keep track of clicks and impressions throughout this campaign.Sometimes,  some users can allow the tracker to save the information about their online activities for further advertising purposes later on.
‍

Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 are grouped countries for user acquisition targeting. Based on the game nature and experience, countries can migrate between groups.

Tier 1 – GEO set that every CPA marketer desires to work with. The wealthiest countries and the most competitive GEOs.
Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong

Tier 2 – Less competitive locations and lower average income per person.
Qatar, Korea, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Spain, New Zealand, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Slovenia, Russian Federation, Portugal, Argentina…

Tier 3 – Developing countries and consumers with low purchasing power.
Jamaica, Dominica, Vietnam, Angola, Bolivia, Namibia, Nigeria, Samoa, Pakistan, Kenya, Sudan, Ghana, Bhutan, Cameroon, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Uganda…
‍

User Acquisition Mobile game publishers focus on UA campaigns being ROI (return on investment) positive -  meaning that the users they acquire can generate more revenue via strategic monetization or IAP (in-app purchases) than the amount of costs they had to pay to acquire them.
‍

Waterfall also known as a daisy chain or waterfall tags, is a process used by a publisher to sell all remnant inventory. This process occurs when a publisher has been unable to sell its premium ad slots that are usually reserved for direct ad sales between the publisher’s internal sales team and advertisers.

Waterfalling gets its name from the waterfall-like process for selling inventory i.e. the demand sources are initiated one at a time, one after another.
‍