Is iOS 14.5 a Bridge to Rebuilding Consumer Trust?
Around the Water Cooler
Yeah, We Know iOS 14.5 Is Bad, but Maybe It's a Bridge to Rebuilding Consumer Trust
Image sourced from Apple
Are you enjoying all of those privacy popups?
Maybe you're one of those people who hasn't really been able to test ATT's full functionality because somehow the tracking feature isn't working for you. But we're not here to speculate about why, just as iOS 14.5 launched, many users were unable to turn on tracking for their trusted apps.
Not that this is at all related (or is it?), but critics suggest that Big Apple's privacy play affords them an unfair advantage. They say advertisers will be able to get better ad performance data from buying directly through Apple than through third parties.
When buyers choose to buy through other sellers, they'll have to sit back and wait a whole three days to receive any insights on their campaigns. By making other players, somewhat non-players, Apple is positioning itself as the best choice in town. So maybe that's why they're expanding their ad offerings.
Mobiledevmo's Eric Seufert says, "Apple defines tracking in a very specific way that doesn't actually reduce the usage of users' data emissions for targeting ads on its own network," and therefore, "Apple benefits from the privilege that ATT bestows upon its ads ambitions."
Now all of those rumors about an Apple ad network in the making don't sound so far-fetched, do they? To be fair, Apple has denied all of the above allegations in the name of preserving consumer privacy. But that hasn't stopped a group of Germany’s largest media, tech and advertising companies from filing an antitrust claim against them due to their ATT rollout.
Yeah, we know, we haven't talked enough about how ATT will negatively impact publishers' ability to monetize their mobile traffic. That's because it's still unclear exactly how much. The German contingent filing the lawsuit against Apple predicts there will be a 60% drop in advertising revenues for app publishers, but analysts from MKM Partners recently about-faced from saying there would be a significant loss to now saying they expected a “fairly fleeting and minimal fundamental impact on the ecosystem.”
But isn't there a much larger philosophical conversation we need to have about how tech behemoths like Google and Apple are leveraging their market share to dictate the consumer privacy conversation and roadmap? And while it stings like hell, we somehow know we played a supporting role in all of this—we let consumer trust erode for far too long.
Don't fret, dear friend, that the path to consent is lined with demonstrating your value exchange to your audiences. And to that end, we've outlined how to manage consent in 14.5 and beyond. This might not be the whole solution for your Apple ATT woes, but it's definitely on the road to there.
Around the Water Cooler
Here's what else we're reading and talking about...
IAB says buyers' ad budget confidence much stronger than last year (MediaPost). Meanwhile, publishers report rising ad spend has exceeded expectations (AdWeek).
Amazon is offering sellers a data-driven email advertising play (MarketingDive).
Discovery+ and Group Nine's successful union drove over 200,000 subs to the new streaming service (Axios).
Podcasting is predicted to surpass $2billion in ad spend by 2023 (eMarketer). Additional revenues are also expected to come in from newly erected podcast paywalls as well (Axios).
Roku and YouTube TV negotiations turn sour in a streaming monetization fight (Variety).
@StevenLevy
There is a legitimate argument that tech and social media in particular makes "engagement" and ad models more worrisome and dangerous. But it's looney to pretend that TV and other media--and soundbites from Senators--don't troll for attention as well.
If you updated to iOS 14.5, you might have noticed the apps on your iPhone asking for permission to track you. That is due to a new feature called app tracking transparency, or ATT, that has sparked a backlash from developers and advertisers that depend on such data. WSJ Senior Personal Tech Columnist Joanna Stern sits down with Apple's software chief, Craig Federighi, to discuss the change and the debate it has stoked.
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