Benchmarks is a competitive analytics tool powered by Ivy that compares your paid and organic marketing performance against anonymized, aggregated data from other apps in your vertical.
Use Benchmarks to understand how your marketing efforts compare to your vertical's median and make informed optimization decisions with competitive context.
Access Benchmarks
You can access Benchmarks from two locations in Branch:
Homepage insight cards: Branch surfaces benchmark insight cards in the Insights area on your homepage, above the onboarding steps. Each card highlights a specific comparison between your performance and your vertical's median. Ivy selects the most relevant data point for each insight based on your app's activity. Not all four insight cards appear for every customer — you only see the ones that are relevant to your data. Select Go to report on any card to open the Benchmarks dashboard.
Benchmarks dashboard: A dedicated dashboard with expanded views of all four benchmark widgets. You can find it under Analysis > All Dashboards in Branch. All four Go to report CTAs direct you to the same dashboard. Even if you don't see all four insight cards on your homepage, all four widgets are available on the dashboard if you have relevant data.
Benchmark metrics
The Benchmarks dashboard includes four widgets. Each widget compares your performance against the median for your vertical, excluding your own app's data from the median calculation. All metrics are install-based.
Paid install share
Compares your paid install share by ad partner against the vertical median. The "Paid Install Share vs. Vertical Paid Install Share Median" widget shows a table with each ad partner, your install share, and the vertical's median install share for that partner.
Use this widget to understand whether you're over- or under-investing in specific paid channels relative to other apps in your vertical, and to identify channels with less competition.
Organic install share
Compares your organic install share by Branch channel against the vertical median. The "Organic Install Share vs. Vertical Organic Install Share Median" widget shows a table with each Branch channel, your install share, and the vertical's median install share for that channel.
Use this widget to evaluate how your organic channel mix compares to other apps in your vertical.
Paid vs. organic ratio
Compares your ratio of paid to organic installs against the vertical median. The "Paid-to-Organic Ratio vs. Vertical Paid-to-Organic Ratio Median" widget shows your paid-to-organic ratio alongside the vertical median.
Use this widget to understand how much you rely on paid channels versus organic channels to drive installs, and whether your paid campaigns may be cannibalizing organic users.
Click-to-install rate (CTI)
Compares your click-to-install rate (CTI) across channels against the vertical median. The "CTI vs. Vertical CTI Median" widget shows a table with each channel, your CTI, and the vertical's median CTI for that channel.
Use this widget to determine whether your conversion rates are driven by your campaign performance or are typical for that channel within your vertical.
Data freshness
Benchmarks data is updated daily and uses a rolling last-30-day window.
Year-over-year comparisons use up to two years of historical data.
Data privacy and anonymization
All benchmark data is anonymous and aggregated. Branch uses a blended vertical median, meaning the data you see represents an aggregated midpoint across all participating apps in your vertical, excluding your own app's data. There are no direct comparisons between individual apps, and the safeguards in place are designed to prevent any specific app's data from being identified within the benchmark results.
Branch enforces the following automated technical safeguards to protect customer data:
Minimum participation thresholds: A vertical must have a minimum number of participating apps before Branch surfaces benchmark data for that vertical. If the number of apps drops below the threshold, the vertical is automatically removed from all benchmark queries and insights.
Blended median calculations: Branch calculates each app's value for the underlying metric (for example, paid install share for a given channel), then takes the median across those results. This treats every participating app as a single equal data point, so the benchmark reflects the typical behavior within your vertical. Medians are highly resistant to outliers, so a single app running a large or unusual campaign doesn't skew the results. Medians also don't reveal the total sums of the underlying data, which makes it harder to identify any individual app's activity from the benchmark results.
These safeguards run automatically. If data does not meet the technical requirements, it becomes ineligible for benchmark insights and the dashboard.
FAQ
Find answers to common questions about Benchmarks.
Where does the benchmark data come from?
Benchmark data comes from the same first-party data that powers Branch's attribution. Branch applies layered anonymization mechanisms to this data so that no individual app's performance is identifiable. The result is an aggregated, anonymous midpoint across all participating apps in a vertical, excluding your own app's data.
Is my app's data included in the benchmarks?
Benchmark data is built from aggregated, anonymized activity across participating apps within each vertical. Your data is anonymized before it's included. It's never surfaced individually or in a way that could identify your app.
Can my competitors see my data?
No. Branch uses a blended vertical median with strict technical safeguards designed to prevent any individual app's strategies or performance data from being identified. Blended median calculations treat every app as a single equal data point and don't reveal the total sums of underlying data, and minimum participation thresholds ensure that no vertical has too few apps to maintain anonymity.
What is a blended vertical median?
A blended vertical median is an aggregated midpoint calculated across all participating apps within a vertical, excluding your own app's data. Rather than showing individual data points or averages that could be skewed by outliers, the median provides a representative baseline for how apps in your vertical perform across key metrics. This approach prioritizes anonymity while still delivering meaningful competitive context.
How fresh is the benchmark data?
Benchmark data is updated daily using a rolling last-30-day window. Year-over-year comparisons use up to two years of historical data.
What happens if my vertical doesn't have enough participating apps?
If the number of participating apps in a vertical drops below Branch's minimum threshold, that vertical is automatically removed from benchmark queries and insights. This safeguard ensures that benchmark data is always statistically significant and that no app's data can be inferred from a small comparison set. If participation increases and the threshold is met again, the vertical becomes eligible once more.
Why don't I see all four insight cards on my homepage?
Not all four benchmark insight cards appear for every customer. Ivy selects the most relevant insights based on your app's activity and data. If an insight isn't relevant to your app, it doesn't appear on your homepage. All four benchmark widgets are still available on the Benchmarks dashboard if you have relevant data.
How does Branch protect my data with AI?
Benchmarks is powered by Ivy, Branch's AI engine. Your data is securely maintained in Branch's environment with comprehensive security controls. When Ivy processes your data, it does so temporarily and in real time — nothing is saved or stored permanently by the AI model vendor. Branch does not use customer data for model training.
Opt out
If you don’t want your data to be included in aggregate Benchmark analysis, contact your Branch account management team to learn about the Benchmarks opt-out process.