Overview

Branch connects to Google Marketing Platform (GMP) to surface ad-driven app conversions in the Branch Dashboard.

Google Marketing Platform includes the following products:

• Display & Video 360 (DV360)

  • Formerly DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM)

• Campaign Manager 360 (CM360)

  • Formerly DoubleClick Campaign Manager (DCM)

Important: Please use the GMP integration in the Branch Dashboard instead of DoubleClick, which is the legacy integration.

Limitations

By connecting your GMP and Branch accounts, you can:

• Send app conversion data collected by the Branch SDK to GMP for attribution.
• Gain read-only access to app conversion data from GMP Ads in your Branch Dashboard. This does not include cost/click/impression data.

Feature Support

Feature	Supported
View-Through Attribution	Yes
Click-Through Attribution	Yes
Local Currency Code	Yes You can set your local currency in the Branch Dashboard. This results in a more accurate representation of performance.

How Does It Work?

1. Branch connects with GMP through an API endpoint. This requires account authentication in the Branch Dashboard through Link IDs set up in GMP.

   • If you are using GMP as a campaign manager, and a third party for the ad inventory, see Attribution Claim Scenarios to get additional details.

2. Events are configured to send from Branch to GMP.

3. Once campaigns are launched, users see an ad to download the app.

4. User installs the app and performs in-app events (ex. PURCHASE).

   • The Branch SDK captures the app install and downstream events.

5. Branch communicates with GMP through the API endpoint, sending GMP data about the conversion.

6. GMP claims conversions by sending the click or impression campaign data that sourced it to Branch.

7. The Branch Dashboard will update reports for you to be able to compare and measure ad campaigns across platforms, secondary publishers, etc.

Please note that if you are not using Branch Links, you can only see the fields provided by GMP.

Attribution Claim Scenarios

For customers that utilize GMP Ad-server and use trackers on third-party platforms (ex. DSPs like The Trade Desk) to get unified reporting in GMP, the attribution claim to Branch will depend on the setup in GMP.

Scenario	Details
CM360 + Third-Party Media Source	DoubleClick Manager (DCM) parameters are included in the conversion response, and Branch ingests the DCM parameters. Attribution conversion credit goes to the third-party media source. Note: To retrieve and see important campaign information in Branch, you must use a Branch Ad Link with the dclid macro added: • If there are existing parameters: &dclid=%edclid! • If there are no existing parameters: ?dclid=%edclid!
CM360 + DV360 Media Source	DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) as well as DCM parameters are included in the conversion response, and Branch ingests the parameters. Attribution conversion credit goes to the DV360 Media Source.
DV360 Media Source	DBM + DCM parameters are included (since a CM360 account is created when a DV360 account is created) in the conversion response, and Branch ingests all parameters. Attribution conversion credit goes to the DV360 Media Source.

Competing Conversion Reporting

Branch does not recommend enabling Google Ads alongside an ad partner that also reports on Google Ads traffic.

This is to avoid conflicts when reporting conversions from the same partner via two different integrations.

For example, if Google Ads is enabled and CM360 is also utilized to report on Google Ads traffic, conversions might be reported by both Google Ads and CM360. In this scenario, CM360 will capture some of the conversions that would have been claimed by the main Google Ads integration.

Attribution Coverage

GMP covers attribution under the following properties/conditions:

Scenario	Covered	Not Covered
App to App	Both click & view-through conversions, using device ID.
Web to App	Only click-through conversions, using: • dclid for DV360 Supply. • gclid for Google Ads/AdMob supply.	• View-through conversions • iOS scenarios where users have opted-out via ATT • Non-Google inventory (not leveraging gclid/dclid)

Integrate GMP and Branch

Follow the steps below to start tracking conversion events from GMP Ads.

Before you begin

Before you can track conversion events from GMP Ads, you first need to:

• Integrate the Branch SDK into your app.

  • If you are using a server-to-server (S2S) integration, make sure the advertising IDs are being passed to Branch.

• Check with your Google representative for a guide provided by their team to configure Branch as an App Analytics Partner and generate a link ID for the iOS and Android versions of your app.

Enable GMP in Branch

To start sending app conversions to GMP for attribution:

1. Navigate to the Partner Management tab and search for Google Marketing Platform.
2. Provide the Link IDs for your respective apps.
3. Click the Save button.

Create GMP Ads Campaign

Please follow Google's documentation on how to set up a Campaign.

Forward Events to GMP

Once you begin tracking events with the Branch SDK, Branch will start sending them to GMP.

Branch will forward in-app events to GMP for campaign optimization. Additionally, Branch will receive attribution data from GMP, resulting in richer analysis in the Branch Dashboard.

View the Appendix section in this guide for event mappings.

Custom Events

GMP supports up to 10 custom events in the following format:

• custom
• custom_1
• custom_2
• custom_3
• custom_4
• custom_5
• custom_6
• custom_7
• custom_8
• custom_9

When creating these custom events, you must click the pencil icon in order to create the new event.

Appendix

Data Mapping

Branch maps the following data fields from GMP to Branch.

GMP	Branch	Possible Values
n/a	~advertising_partner_name	“Google Marketing Platform”
product_type	~channel	This field reports the product that is responsible for the conversions, either “DBM” or “DCM”.
creative_id	~creative_id	The numeric ID of the creative ad unit that produced the ad event. This value is guaranteed unique. When product is DBM, this field represents the DBM Creative ID. When product is DCM, this field represents the DCM Creative ID.
placement_id	~secondary_publisher	The ID of the placement tag that calls an ad server for ad content when users visit a site. DCM serves ads when users visit a site with DCM placement tags. DCM generates a unique tag for each placement in an ad campaign. This value is only provided when product is DCM.
placement_name	~placement	The name of the placement tag that calls an ad server for ad content when users visit a site. DCM serves ads when users visit a site with DCM placement tags. DCM generates a unique tag for each placement in an ad campaign. This value is only provided when product is DCM.
line_item_id	~ad_id	Line items in DBM can be used for targeting, bidding, and assigning creatives. This is the ID of the line item that produced the ad event. This value is guaranteed unique within the DBM universe. This value is only provided when product is DBM.
line_item_name	~ad_name	Name of the line items in DBM that produced the ad event. This value is only provided when product is DBM.

Event Mapping

Branch Event Name	GMP Conversion Type
INSTALL	FIRST_OPEN
PURCHASE	ECOMMERCE_PURCHASE
INITIATE_PURCHASE	CUSTOM
ADD_TO_CART	ADD_TO_CART
VIEW_ITEM	VIEW_ITEM
VIEW_ITEMS	VIEW_ITEM_LIST
ADD_PAYMENT_INFO	CUSTOM
COMPLETE_REGISTRATION	CUSTOM
SEARCH	VIEW_SEARCH_RESULTS
ACHIEVE_LEVEL	CUSTOM
OPEN	SESSION_START
REINSTALL	REINSTALL_OPEN
COMPLETE_TUTORIAL	CUSTOM
ADD_TO_WISHLIST	CUSTOM
UNLOCK_ACHIEVEMENT	CUSTOM
SHARE	CUSTOM
SPEND_CREDITS	CUSTOM
RATE	CUSTOM
UPDATE	CUSTOM
RESERVE	CUSTOM
LOGIN	CUSTOM
INVITE	CUSTOM