How to measure reach for mobile OEM advertising?

Mobile advertising is projected to hit $447 billion by 2025—yet most app marketers are still overlooking the powerful reach potential of Mobile OEM platforms. Measuring reach here isn’t as straightforward as it is on Google or Facebook. It requires a tailored approach rooted in unique users, device ecosystems, and platform-level insights. As an expert in mobile marketing, you should understand how to measure reach on mobile OEM advertising campaigns.

It’s not just about counting impressions; it’s about discerning the unique users exposed to your OEM campaign within the native mobile device ecosystem. This understanding is crucial for any app marketer seeking to optimize ad spend and drive genuine app growth.

The unique proposition of mobile OEM advertising

In an era of cookie deprecation and limited tracking, OEM placements are increasingly seen as privacy-forward advertising solutions, offering deterministic placements without third-party tracking.

Mobile OEM advertising stands apart. It involves placing ads directly within the software and hardware ecosystem of a device manufacturer (OEM), such as Samsung Ads, Xiaomi Ads, or other Android devices.

These aren’t intrusive pop-ups on a webpage; they are native ads integrated into the user experience itself. It includes ad placement within pre-installed apps, system-level recommendations, custom app stores (like OEM app stores or alternative app store options), and smart folders that suggest apps based on user behavior.

The inherent “native” quality of OEM placements yields several distinct advantages: higher user trust, lower ad fraud rates, and, often, higher user engagement. As advertisers navigate an increasingly complex and privacy-conscious digital landscape, the OEM channel offers a powerful avenue for targeted advertising and enhancing brand awareness.

According to Singular, the global mobile advertising market has the capacity to reach $447 billion by 2025, with mobile accounting for 56% of total digital ad spending. OEM advertising, with its unique advantages, is poised to capture a significant share of this growth.

How to measure reach for mobile OEM advertising: The core metrics

Measuring reach in OEM marketing involves a blend of traditional advertising metrics and specific considerations unique to the on-device environment. The goal is to quantify the number of unique users who have seen your ad campaign through OEM platforms.

1. Unique impressions and unique users

The foundational metric for how to measure reach is unique impressions. This metric counts the number of distinct mobile device users who have seen your ad format at least once. It’s crucial to differentiate this from total impressions, which can count multiple views by the same user.

• Data source: OEM platforms typically provide aggregate data on unique impressions delivered through their ad placement inventory. It is the primary data point for calculating reach.
• Challenges: Deduplication across different OEM devices or even different ad format types from the same OEM can be complex. While OEMs strive to provide unique user counts, sophisticated Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) are often required to reconcile this data across a broader marketing campaign accurately.

2. Device-level reach

Given that OEM ads are tied to the device, a critical aspect of how to measure reach is understanding the number of unique OEM devices on which your ad campaign appeared.

• Significance: This metric gives app marketers a clear picture of their geographic and device penetration. For example, if you’re running a marketing campaign targeting specific Android devices in certain regions, knowing the number of unique devices helps validate your marketing strategy.
• Data source: OEMs can provide device IDs (hashed for privacy) or device model counts that were exposed to the ads.

3. App installations (installs from impressions)

While not a direct measure of “reach,” the number of app installations driven by OEM traffic is a crucial performance indicator that validates the quality of the reach. It indicates the percentage of exposed unique users who converted into users.

• Conversion rates: OEM sources often boast impressive conversion rates. For instance, some OEM sources report conversion rates (Install Rate from impressions) between 10% and 40%, and in some cases, even as high as 85% (Business of Apps). This high conversion rate directly from exposure implies a highly targeted and receptive reach.
• Measurement: Marketers can track this via Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs), such as AppsFlyer or Adjust, which can attribute installs back to the OEM channel through specific integration methods (e.g., referrer attribution for dynamic preloads or SDK integrations with OEM app stores).

4. Audience penetration rate

This advanced metric involves comparing your measured unique reach to the total available audience within a specific OEM platform or geographic segment.

• Formula: Audience Penetration Rate = (Unique Users Reached / Total Addressable Audience on OEM Platform) x 100
• Value: This indicates to app advertisers the percentage of their desired target audience within a particular OEM ecosystem that they’re effectively reaching. For instance, as a leading player in Mobile OEM advertising, AVOW covers 86% of the global Android market and provides access to 1.5 billion daily active users. Knowing how much of that massive potential audience your specific ad campaign is touching offers invaluable insights for scaling. A penetration rate above 10% within a high-intent audience segment is a strong indicator of effective reach and market relevance.

Challenges in measuring OEM ad reach

Despite the significant advantages, measuring reach for OEM ads comes with its own set of complexities:

• Data fragmentation: Different OEMs may have different reporting interfaces and data formats, making it challenging to get a unified view of reach across multiple OEM platforms.
• Privacy enhancements: With the increasing prevalence of privacy regulations, granular user-level data for precise deduplication across various ad placement types and platforms is becoming more restricted. Aggregated data is more common.
• Attribution complexity: Accurately attributing installs and post-install events back to the specific OEM campaign or ad format can require deep integration with MMPs. For pre-installed apps, this often involves “preload referrer attribution” to link the install to the OEM source.
• Walled gardens: Some OEM ecosystems operate as “walled gardens,” meaning they closely control their data and may limit direct access to raw impression data for independent analysis. As a result, mobile marketing professionals often rely on summarized reports from the OEMs or their authorized partners.

Navigating these challenges requires a trusted partner with deep integration across OEMs. AVOW’s proprietary tools and direct relationships with OEM platforms eliminate guesswork, bringing clarity to your measurement efforts.

Best practices for accurate reach measurement

To effectively measure reach for mobile OEM advertising, consider these best practices:

1. Leverage mobile measurement partners (MMPs): MMPs, such as AppsFlyer and Adjust, are indispensable for effective measurement. They integrate with various OEM platforms and OEM app stores to provide unified attribution and analytics across all platforms. They can track installs, in-app events, and user behavior from OEM traffic, providing a more comprehensive view of ad performance and the quality of your reach.
2. Collaborate closely with OEM partners/agencies: Work with experienced OEM marketing agencies or directly with OEM ad teams. They possess proprietary data and expertise on measuring reach within their specific ecosystems, including benchmarks for OEM traffic and typical user journeys.
3. Define clear KPIs beyond installs: While installs are essential, accurate reach measurement for OEM campaign success should also extend to post-install metrics. Track engagement (session length, frequency of use), retention rates, and Lifetime Value (LTV) for users acquired through the OEM channel. This information provides a clearer picture of the value of the reach.
4. Utilize geo-targeting and device-specific segmentation: Since OEM devices have distinct market shares in various regions, segmenting your ad campaign by geography and device model enables more precise reach measurement and optimization. This targeted advertising ensures your marketing strategy aligns with where your potential customers are.
5. Focus on incremental reach: Beyond just raw numbers, try to understand the incremental reach that Mobile OEM advertising provides beyond your other advertising platforms (e.g., Google Ads). It helps justify the unique value proposition of the OEM channel in your overall digital marketing mix.
6. Demand transparency: When working with OEM digital marketing partners, ensure transparency in reporting on unique impressions, device IDs, and attribution methodologies. It enables you, the app marketer, to have confidence in the reported reach.
7. Benchmark against traditional channels: Compare reach and engagement metrics from OEM campaigns with those from Google Ads or Meta campaigns to quantify incremental value and secure internal buy-in.

Plan your global impact: Unlock your OEM reach with AVOW’s calculator.

Understanding your potential reach is the critical first step in planning any successful marketing campaign in the Mobile OEM advertising space. It empowers you to strategically allocate your ad spend, forecast performance, and truly grasp the scale of your brand visibility across diverse OEM devices.

At AVOW, we recognize that deciphering this complex landscape can be challenging. That’s why we’ve developed a user-friendly reach calculator specifically designed to help app advertisers like you.

This innovative tool enables you to input your target regions and campaign goals, instantly visualizing the number of people you can reach using mobile OEM ads through AVOW’s extensive network of OEM platforms.

It provides invaluable insights into the vast, untapped audiences available via the OEM channel, from Samsung Ads to Xiaomi Ads and beyond, helping you refine your app marketing and digital marketing efforts before launch.

Example: Planning to launch your travel app in Southeast Asia? Input your regional focus into our calculator and uncover how many millions of high-intent users across vivo, Xiaomi, and OPPO devices you can engage before even spending a dollar.

The future of measuring OEM reach

The future of how to measure reach in Mobile OEM advertising will likely involve even more sophisticated analytics and privacy-centric solutions. With advancements in AI and machine learning, advertising platforms and MMPs will continue to refine their statistical models to estimate unique users across various OEM devices and touchpoints, even with less direct user-level data.

Conclusion

The continued growth of OEM devices in emerging markets, coupled with the increasing fragmentation of the app store landscape (beyond just Google Play and Apple App Store), solidifies the OEM channel as a critical component of any successful marketing campaign. 

For app advertisers seeking sustainable brand visibility and high-quality user acquisition, mastering the measurement of reach on these platforms will be a defining factor in success.

As the landscape evolves, AVOW’s Reach Calculator will continue to adapt, providing marketers with real-time, privacy-conscious insights into scalable growth opportunities.

Ready to see your potential? Calculate your precise Mobile OEM advertising reach today with AVOW’s FREE Reach Calculator and start planning your next blockbuster app marketing campaign!