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Analysis of a cross-channel attribution technology

The second dataset was provided by a rm that allows cross-channel attribution of dierent forms of online advertising campaigns. It allows me to study the evolution over three quarters of data of advertising campaigns by a single advertiser who had adopted an attribution technology. This technology allowed the advertiser to easily compare the conversion performance of each dierent campaign. In this attribution platform, unlike the previous data, the cost information concerning advertising is stored on the local server of the advertiser. Therefore, initially I simply document patterns in the data suggestive of substitution across advertising platforms and towards advertising campaigns that were more successful. I then collect additional external data changes in pricing of the paid search campaigns implied by the changing substitution patterns.5 Table 2 reports summary statistics for this data. An observation in this data is a single user who has been exposed to a variety of advertising campaigns. Typically the user is observed for 40 days. It is immediately apparent that paid search ad exposures are a small proportion of total advertising exposures for the typical individual. This is presumably because anyone can potentially see a display ad for a new cellphone, but users are only exposed to a paid search ad for a new cellphone if they are actively in the market for a new cellphone, which is a potentially a very small proportion of the population. An observation in the data analysis is a campaign that either started in the rst, second or third quarter. I analyze data at the campaign rather than the user level because I am interested in changes in campaign level performance. I have data on 883 such campaigns that were initiated over three quarters. 58% of these campaigns were search campaigns, and the remaining campaigns were a mixture of untargeted display ads, behaviorally targeted display ads and social media ads.
The pricing of search campaigns is easily accessible via the Google keyword estimator tool. Unfortunately, the prices of display advertising campaigns are less transparent.
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