With the cost of UA rising (something that's good for devs with inventory but bad for those spending on new users), it's no surprise the companies are trying to get smarter about how they spend.

For, despite the wealth of tracking options, it seems that the old marketeers' dilemma about not knowing which half of his spend is driving business growth remains true.

At least that seems to be the conclusion to draw from trials using the Content Analytics product from Branch.

Knowledge is power

The 'deep linking and mobile engagement platform' came up with Content Analytics to enable advertisers to better understand what content elements of their in-app advertising were driving different user activity.

In this way, Branch hopes that developers will be able to better optimise actions such as views, shares, clicks, installs and opens, with lifestyle tips app Trusper claiming that during the beta trial, it reduced the cost of an install by 50% compared to generic app install campaigns

Certainly Jon Edvald, head of data science at trivia game QuizUp is a fan.

"Branch's deep-linking is an important part of how QuizUp leverages in-app content," he said.

"With Content Analytics, we're now able to quickly understand how to leverage our in-app content for our app marketing efforts. We're excited to continue experimenting to find out everything we can do with this new solution."

Supporting existing deep linking technologies such as Facebook App Links, Twitter App Cards, Google App Indexing and Apple Universal Links, Content Analytics is free and available for iOS and Android.

You can find out more details at the Branch website.