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CTV attribution lets a partner get credit for app installs driven by TV ads. A TV ad has no click. When a partner runs your ads on connected TVs (smart TVs, streaming sticks, set-top boxes), Linkrunner can credit an install on a phone in the same home to the TV ad the partner reported. Use it when an affiliate partner runs connected TV campaigns for your app and reports each TV ad impression from its server.

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How much to trust it

A TV and a phone share one thing: the home’s public IP address. Linkrunner matches on that, so the match is probabilistic. The same IP address suggests the same household. It does not prove the same person saw the ad. Linkrunner limits the risk in three ways:
  • Clicks and device IDs come first. A CTV impression is credited only when no click, from any source, and no device-ID impression can be credited.
  • Same home Wi-Fi only. The phone must install from the same public IP address as the TV. Installs over mobile data don’t match.
  • Shared networks are skipped. If more than 4 such installs of your app come from one IP address in about a day, Linkrunner treats it as a shared network, such as an office or a hotspot, and gives no CTV credit.
The most recent impression inside the window wins, and each impression is credited to at most one install.
Turn on CTV only for partners you trust. A partner that reports impressions it did not serve can claim installs that would otherwise be organic.

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Turn it on for a partner

You need three switches on, per partner and per app. Only admins and managers can change them. Changes take up to 5 minutes to apply.
1

Turn on S2S clicks and impressions

Go to Integrations → Affiliate Partners, click Configure on the partner’s card, and turn on S2S clicks and impressions. See Turn on S2S clicks for a partner for the steps.
2

Turn on Connected TV (CTV) impressions

On the same page, turn on Connected TV (CTV) impressions under the S2S switch. It stays disabled until S2S is on. Turning S2S off also turns CTV off.The partner's Configure page with S2S clicks and impressions and Connected TV (CTV) impressions both on
3

Turn on view-through for the partner

Go to Settings → Attribution Windows, find the partner, turn on View-through attribution, and choose a window from 1 to 24 hours. The default is 24 hours. See View-through attribution.View-through attribution turned on for the partner with a 24 hour window

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Send the partner their CTV impression URL

Once CTV is on for a partner, Linkrunner shows a CTV impression URL with a copy button on that partner’s campaigns. You can find it in three places: Campaigns table. Hover over the campaign’s row and click the TV icon next to the template URL copy button. The TV icon in the campaign table, with its Copy CTV impression URL tooltip Campaign details. Open the campaign. The URL is in the header, under Template URL and View-through URL. The campaign details header with the CTV impression URL and its copy button Create Campaign. The confirmation screen shows it after you create a campaign for the partner. Campaign Created with the Template URL, View-through URL and CTV impression URL The URL looks like this:
Copy it and send it to the partner. The partner also sees the same URL in their own affiliate dashboard. The partner replaces the macros in braces with its own values, including the TV’s public IP address and user agent. It then calls the URL from its server for each impression, with its S2S token in the X-Linkrunner-Token header. The CTV impressions guide for partners has the full specification.

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See your results

CTV installs appear in your campaign table as installs and as View Through Attribution installs. Accepted impressions appear in the Impressions column.
  • The Impressions column is off by default. Click the Edit Columns icon in the table toolbar, tick Impressions, and click Save. The Edit Columns icon at the right of the campaign toolbar
  • A TV impression belongs to neither Android nor iOS. A view filtered to one platform leaves CTV impressions out. Clear the platform filter to see them.
  • Postbacks to the partner carry {touch_type} = impression for CTV installs.
Campaign table with Impressions, Installs and View Through Attribution for CTV campaigns

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Turn it off

To stop CTV credit for a partner, turn off Connected TV (CTV) impressions on the partner’s Configure page. Within 5 minutes Linkrunner rejects the partner’s new CTV impressions. Installs already credited keep their attribution. You can also turn off view-through for the partner in Settings → Attribution Windows, which stops all impression credit for that partner. Turning off S2S clicks and impressions turns CTV off too.

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Troubleshooting

The partner sees one of these reasons in the response:
  • partner_not_enabled: S2S clicks and impressions is off for this partner.
  • ctv_not_enabled: the CTV switch is off for this partner.
  • view_through_disabled: view-through is off for this partner in Settings → Attribution Windows.
Turn on the missing switch, wait up to 5 minutes, and ask the partner to retry.
Check these in order:
  • The phone installed on the same home Wi-Fi as the TV. Installs over mobile data don’t match.
  • The impression arrived before the install, and the install is inside the view-through window.
  • The impression carries the TV’s real public IP address, not the partner’s ad server address.
  • No click or device-ID impression was available to credit instead. Those always win.
  • The home IP address did not trigger the shared-network limit of more than 4 installs in about a day.
The URL shows only for a partner’s campaigns once CTV is on. Check that S2S clicks and impressions and Connected TV (CTV) impressions are both on for that partner, and that the partner is connected in Integrations → Affiliate Partners.
Need help? Contact support@linkrunner.io