2023 – challenges, opportunities, achievements – and the road ahead

Dear customers, partners, team members, investors and shareholders,

With 2024 around the corner, I look back on 2023 with a deep sense of pride. It was a year marked by significant challenges and remarkable achievements. What stands out is not just our growth and success, but the extraordinary way our team faced adversity. 

In many ways, 2023 echoed the early days of AppsFlyer, with dramatic shifts in the industry bringing challenges yet opening doors to great opportunities. Agility and resilience have been more crucial than ever, and mastering change has been a key driver of our success. 

I am excited to share some of our proudest moments from the past year and to reflect on how the last decade has uniquely positioned us to tackle the challenges of the decade ahead.

The challenges that created AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 to address the systemic shift from web to mobile apps, which made traditional web-cookie-based measurement and analytics obsolete. Innovating app attribution analytics, AppsFlyer has grown into the leading attribution and marketing analytics company worldwide, holding over 65% market share with unique product offering and positioning.

The challenges that created the Privacy Cloud & Data Clean Room

Almost four years ago, Apple’s announcement of iOS14 signified a major shift in the industry. We were faced with a renewed, yet familiar, mission: to navigate measurement in a privacy-first world. 

During this period, we spearheaded significant innovations, including SKAN, Privacy Sandbox, Conversion Modeling, Aggregated Advance Privacy, Privacy Cloud and Data Clean Room. As measurement became more complex than ever, AppsFlyer developed a unique Single Source of Truth (SSOT) solution, improving Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) by up to 70% for our customers. 

“It’s like iOS14 never existed for us, I think it’s a really problem-solving product.” Is one of the most inspiring pieces of customer feedback we have ever received. Yet, I humbly acknowledge that we still have a considerable journey ahead of us.  

The challenges that created the Privacy Cloud Marketplace

As I reflect on 2023, it takes me back to the genesis of AppsFlyer during the mobile app revolution. This year, AI stood out as a transformative technology, yet AI’s need for extensive data sets presents a challenge to the core principles of data protection, minimization, and compliance with regulatory and platform guidelines.

The Privacy Cloud Data Clean Room facilitates privacy-preserving measurement and data collaboration. As we progressed, our customers and partners asked for wider data collaboration solutions, leading us down a new path in resolving the AI and data protection paradox, and to the release of the Privacy Cloud Marketplace.

As customers already trust AppsFlyer to store and process their data, our next step is to enable 3rd parties to develop new services, technologies, and AI models within the customers’ data and context, while minimizing data movement, sharing, risks and complexities. 

The mission of the Privacy Cloud is to empower any company and entrepreneur to unleash their creativity, for the benefit of our customers and the entire ecosystem. The realization of this mission makes ‘1% done’ not just a mindset but a constant state of progress and inspiration.

AppsFlyer’s first acquisitions

Our cautious approach to acquisitions considers how each addition aligns with our long-term strategy and unique positioning. This year, we acquired two remarkable companies that perfectly align with our goals and values – devtodev and oolo. Both stood out for their exceptional teams, outstanding customer feedback, and technology that seamlessly fits into our long-term strategy.

Both acquisitions enhance our customers’ ability to understand and leverage their data for quicker, better informed decision-making. As the first apps in the Privacy Cloud Marketplace, devtodev and oolo are the beginning of a new era where logic, AI, and other services can be directly applied to customer data, significantly minimizing data copying and sharing. 

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the incredible teams at devtodev and oolo. The synergy already feels like a perfect match, and this is just the beginning of our journey together.

Mastering changes and overcoming challenges

At AppsFlyer, adaptability, mastering change, and tackling challenges are our core principles. In an ecosystem defined by rapid evolution, I’m proud we were able to embrace these challenges with the same passion that fueled our inception – a drive to turn the impossible into the possible.

This year, we realigned our organizational structure to better meet our customers’ needs and strategic goals. We adapted our workforce, grew internal talent, and enhanced internal mobility to strategically place our brightest minds where they’re needed most.

Our success is entirely driven by our exceptional team. The last few years have put our resilience to the test. From navigating geopolitical unrest to addressing macroeconomic changes and customer needs, our team’s incredible spirit has been our beacon.

To each member of our team, I am profoundly grateful for your dedication, loyalty, and trust. Your all-in approach and ‘think like a founder’ mentality are the bedrock of our success and my biggest pride.

Challenges → opportunities → results

This year, we continued to grow AppsFlyer’s Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) to nearly $400M USD. This consistent growth is a testament to our commitment to remain independent and unbiased. Our revenue, derived solely from customer subscriptions for our cloud-based software, underscores our integrity and dedication to our values.

Independent, unbiased, and innovating with our partners

Our commitment to staying independent and unbiased has allowed us to deepen our relationships with major platforms, partners and app stores, fostering innovation in measurement and activation as we enter a new era of data protection and innovative data collaboration.

With our partners, we’re pioneering privacy-preserving measurement technologies. Utilizing Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) and trusted execution environments within our Data Clean Room has yielded remarkable results: attribution coverage has increased by 100%-500%, Cost Per Action (CPA) has significantly decreased, and Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) has surged by up to 80%.

Our incredible network of partners also enabled us to set the groundwork for new industry standards for measurement beyond clicks and impressions. Introducing Enriched engagement, developed and adapted by many of the top players in our ecosystem.

Thank you to our partners for your continued support and trust. Our mission in collaboration with major platforms is clear yet ambitious: Better measurement → better models → better ads → better internet.

2023 saw remarkable growth and achievements:

• Close to $400M ARR
• Turned to profitability in Q4 2023
• Positive cash flow since 2022 
• AppsFlyer Data Clean Room (DCR) grew by more than 50%
  • DCR added dynamic querying based on ChatGPT
  • Expended Retail and Commerce Media Networks (RMN) to collaborate on data, activate, measure and enrich
  • AppsFlyer’s DCR was selected in Ventana research’s digital innovation awards
  • Recognized as a market leader in IDC’s MarketScape for Worldwide Data Clean Room Technology in Advertising and Marketing Use Cases, 2023-2024 
• Connected TV apps (CTV) grew by 4X and CTV to mobile traffic soared by 20X
• Our footprint in PC and Gaming consoles skyrocketed by 20X following AppsFlyer for games launch
• Single Source of Truth (SSOT) surged by 300%
• Onboarded over 1,000 new customers
• AppsFlyer serves many of the largest companies in the world, including 28% of the Fortune 500 companies with a digital presence
• Recognized on two Gartner Hype Cycle reports, for Digital Marketing and Digital Advertising, for our mobile marketing analytics strength
• AppsFlyer reached #27 on the prestigious Forbes Cloud 100, the definitive list of the 100 most successful private cloud companies in the world
• Diversity and inclusion fuels creativity and innovation. It makes us better and stronger.
  • Our gender equality is one of the highest in the industry and continuously improving. 46% of all new hires are women
  • Representation in executive roles is improving as well, and we are excited to announce that Irit Kahan is joining the AppsFlyer board

Doing well by doing good

We believe that social responsibility is great for business, fueling our people with a sense of pride, belonging and purpose beyond our products. 

This year, we received recognition and a significant investment from the US Congress for our Auschwitz Birkenau Project, a testament to our commitment to preserving history and promoting cross cultural understanding. This project also garnered investments from Google and the prestigious ‘Partner of the year’ award from AWS. I’d like to thank all the amazing people and organizations supporting this historical project, and working with us to prevent racism, blind hatred and persecution.

During the challenging times of the war in Israel, and the war in Ukraine, our team provided consistent support to the affected communities, team members, and their families. 

We also released our first ever annual Impact Report. This document not only reflects our ongoing commitment to social responsibility but also shares the culture of significant impact.

I am amazed by the significant impact achieved through AppsFlyer Cares and the AppsFlyer volunteers this year. My heartfelt thanks go out to every volunteer and member of the AppsFlyer Cares team.

What’s coming in 2024?

Looking at the year ahead, these are our main focus areas:

Measure everything: Even in the era of signal loss and different devices and platforms, our mission remains the same: to enable our customers to measure everything. We’re committed to enhancing cross-platform, cross-device measurement and integrating incrementality products and Media Mix Modeling (MMM) solutions into our Privacy Cloud Marketplace.

Privacy first: With great power comes great responsibility. We will continue to assist our customers, including their compliance teams, CISOs and DPOs, to protect and secure their data, and their own customers’ data.

Growth in economic downturn: Helping our customers to take the best data driven decisions, to maximize their ROAS, and to scale their business. And with fraud on the rise, we are committed to enhancing our fraud protection to continue safeguarding our customers.

The AI era: Leverage AI to help our customers and the entire ecosystem in serving better ads and enriching end users’ experience. 

One more thing, stay tuned for a groundbreaking combination of AI and Ads – more details will be revealed soon. 

‘1% done’ 

This year has been one of our most challenging, and at the same time, one of significant accomplishments for both the company and our team members. Beyond numbers and milestones, our achievements reflect the time spent together challenging the status quo, and our deep commitment to our mission. It’s about learning from our mistakes, welcoming new ideas, and constantly striving to do better. 

Our ‘1% done’ mentality means we are only just starting to unlock our full potential. With our Privacy Cloud Data Clean Room and Marketplace, we are at the very beginning of a path of infinite possibilities.

As I look back at 2023, I am filled with gratitude for the support from our people, partners, and customers. Your trust, loyalty, feedback, and engagement have been the building blocks of our success. We could not have done it without you. 

1% done. Always. 

Oren