Apple's App Tracking Transparency Framework Causing Advertisers to Spend More Money Targeting Android Users

[rjohnstone]

Less revenue for iOS developers, less incentive to develop iOS applications?

Exactly. iOS devs who rely on ad revenue to fund their work are going to be the ones who will be hurt.
They will either start charging, or charge more, to make up the loss.
But Apple knows this. Apple never gets a cut a dev ad revenue, but they sure do get a cut of the app dev's fees.

 

[rjohnstone]

I am more likely to pay for apps if they do not track me.

One of the big disappointments has been the developers who want both to charge and to gain from advertising and/ or tracking.

The model of offering an advertising-supported "free" version and a paid-for option is fine. But leave the tracking and unexpected advertising out of it.

Uh... how do you think those "free" apps remain free?
Ad revenue can make a lot more money for the devs than paid versions of the apps.

 

[mzeb]

This’ll be interesting. There is still an advertising opportunity here. It will just require more thinking than those leaving the platform are willing to put in. New ad firms with more flexibility and creativity will fill this space. Tech changes and these advertisers just fell behind.

 

[Mousse]

Exactly. iOS devs who rely on ad revenue to fund their work are going to be the ones who will be hurt.
They will either start charging, or charge more, to make up the loss.
But Apple knows this. Apple never gets a cut a dev ad revenue, but they sure do get a cut of the app dev's fees.

They can still display ads, just not targeted ads. We don't have targetted ads with television, hasn't stop advertizers.

Sounds to me the only one making a big stink over this is Facebook and it's not because they want to have targeted ads. They can go the way of MySpace for all I care.

 

[polyphenol]

Uh... how do you think those "free" apps remain free?
Ad revenue can make a lot more money for the devs than paid versions of the apps.

As long as the developer wishes!

If they ONLY offer an advertising-supported version, that too is fine. But leave the unexpected advertising and tracking out of it.

There are many ways in which companies undermine their (potential) relationship with me. If they say there are advertisements, possibly fine. But if they suddenly popup advertisements and try to catch you out and accidentally click on them, very much not fine. If they track, beyond what the app might need to do for functionality, not fine.

 

[rjohnstone]

They can still display ads, just not targeted ads. We don't have targetted ads with television, hasn't stop advertizers.

Sounds to me the only one making a big stink over this is Facebook and it's not because they want to have targeted ads. They can go the way of MySpace for all I care.

I'm thinking more about the small devs who rely on ad revenue to keep things going.
Those generic ads pay between 20%-30% of a well targeted ad. Which means devs will have to display a lot more of them to stay at current payout levels. Mediavine, AdThrive, and a host of other ad companies have payout schedules that can make a dev or website a crap ton of cash with premium ad placement. Generic ads are just filler and pay pennies on the dollar compared to premium ads.
Facebook can die in hellfire.

Also, you cannot compare TV ads to web based ads. TV ads are specifically designed for the "spray and pray" method.
One TV ad could be seen by tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people in one shot. Most web based ads will be lucky to be seen by that many people in a month.

 

[69Mustang]

Nice to see. This should encourage developers to use straight up paid apps (or less invasive tracking adverts) on iOS, which I'd like.

Now if we could just get Apple to let devs charge money for large app updates (once a year or less), I'd be happy.


It's important to point out that Google said they would add "Privacy", but not the same "Privacy" as Apple. My guess is tracking and monetizing user data will be safe and sound over in Android world after the "Privacy" is applied. But alot of PR "Privacy" will be talked about by Google at the time. Will be interesting to see what they do, since they are all about advertising and using user data.

Tracking and monetizing user data will be safe and sound over in the Android world... just like it is in the iOS world. The distinction you and others seem to be missing is App Tracking doesn't block tracking as a whole. It specifically blocks cross site tracking which Apple defines as: "Tracking refers to the act of linking user or device data collected from your app with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes." - Apple Some 3rd party APK include cross site tracking built in.

Apple makes a distinction between tracking and data mining. I'm not sure consumers (forum members) make that same distinction. It seems the assumption is ATT prevents all tracking, including data mining. It doesn't.

 

[rjohnstone]

As long as the developer wishes!

If they ONLY offer an advertising-supported version, that too is fine. But leave the unexpected advertising and tracking out of it.

There are many ways in which companies undermine their (potential) relationship with me. If they say there are advertisements, possibly fine. But if they suddenly popup advertisements and try to catch you out and accidentally click on them, very much not fine. If they track, beyond what the app might need to do for functionality, not fine.

Agree... that's a sign of a greedy dev who just wants the ad clicks. They still make money on the "accidental" click.
Place legit ads in an unobtrusive manner and I'm fine with that.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Less revenue for iOS developers, less incentive to develop iOS applications?

Less incentive to put crap on iOS.

Apple still needs to drop the barriers that hold back great apps from coming to iOS.

I think every technical user of macOS, Windows, Linux, or Android has a list of apps that they'd recommend that most people install, right?

Is there a list of such apps for iOS? Personally, I've been using iOS devices for 12 years and I have no such list. I don't think anyone does. iOS apps just aren't particularly great.

 

[Appleman3546]

It likely means that developers will make iPhone users pay more upfront, if they even get the app at all. Great short term move for Apple, but bad long term move for Apple as they continue to lose developers and apps to android. Let’s hope that this isn’t a repeat of Mac v PC, as the quality games went to PC and not Mac.

 

[Macintosh IIvx]

Less revenue for iOS developers, less incentive to develop iOS applications?

iOS users still spend substantially more than Android users (about 3x more). They also pay for apps at a much higher rate. So there's still big incentive to build for iOS.

 

[I7guy]

Less incentive to put crap on iOS.

Apple still needs to drop the barriers that hold back great apps from coming to iOS.

I think every technical user of macOS, Windows, Linux, or Android has a list of apps that they'd recommend that most people install, right?

Is there a list of such apps for iOS? Personally, I've been using iOS devices for 12 years and I have no such list. I don't think anyone does. iOS apps just aren't particularly great.

I dont know if the two bolded statements apply in a universal sense.

 

[doboy]

I guess more apps may start charging.

 

[rpmurray]

If YouTube is any indication of how advertisers want the world to work (an ad every 15 seconds and the same ad multiple times within a 10 minute video) then I can just hope they crash and burn. I've already put Aspen Dental on my Do Not Use list.

 

[halfmac]

Mobile advertisers are beginning to spend significantly more money targeting Android users thanks to Apple's implementation of a framework on iOS, severely impacting the amount of data companies can collect about users on iPhone and iPad.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, following the April roll-out of ATT, or the App Tracking Transparency framework, which requires that all apps on iPhone and iPad ask for users consent before tracking their activity across other apps, advertisers have begun to lower their spending on Apple's platform.

According to early data from the ad-measurement firm Branch Metrics Inc, seen by The Journal, less than 33% of iOS users have permitted apps to track them across other apps. The remaining 67% of iOS users opted not to permit apps to track their activity. As a result, the amount of advertiser spending on Apple's mobile platform has fallen by about one-third between June 1 and July 1, while spending on Android rose over 10% for the same month, according to ad-measurement firm Tenjin Inc.
One reason digital advertisers say they're spending less on Apple's mobile platform is due to the lack of "granular data that made mobile ads on iOS devices effective and justified their prices."

Without proper user tracking, advertisers have significantly less data about a user's interests, preferences, and more. Advertisers and companies, such as Facebook, use that data to compile a profile of a user. The type of data collected from tracking helps advertisers to ensure that their ads are being targeted to potential customers
While several advertisers are being impacted by ATT, Facebook has been the most vocal and critical of the new change. Ever since Apple began to beta test the framework, which was shipped as part of the iOS and iPadOS 14.5 updates, Facebook accused Apple of impacting small businesses who rely on advertising as a means of keeping their doors open. Facebook also proclaimed that the framework was anti-competitive because, in its view, it gives Apple an upper hand for running its own mobile advertising business on iOS devices.

Article Link: Apple's App Tracking Transparency Framework Causing Advertisers to Spend More Money Targeting Android Users

This is exactly what I wanted. LESS ADS!!! Let Android have them.

 

[rjohnstone]

If YouTube is any indication of how advertisers want the world to work (an ad every 15 seconds and the same ad multiple times within a 10 minute video) then I can just hope they crash and burn. I've already put Aspen Dental on my Do Not Use list.

That issue depends on the YouTuber... those who want to use the monetized portion of YouTube, decide how many ads to run in their videos. That is not a Google decision.

 

[_Spinn_]

I’m not surprised. Why would they spend more money when they are getting less data?

 

[coolfactor]

This is just going to be temporary because because Google is adding basically the same feature to Android. There are other basic tracking measures out there that are becoming the new normal way of tracking users and that will be the way forward for the time being.

Same, or similar, simply for marketing purposes so Google can say "See? We protect your privacy, too!" while their version barely goes to the same lengths.

 

[Marshall73]

Maybe this will lead to more paid apps. I hate ‘freemium’ stuff and virtual currency crap in apps.

 

[mi7chy]

Meanwhile, Big Sur is littered with their own subscription nagware.

 

[genovelle]

Uh... how do you think those "free" apps remain free?
Ad revenue can make a lot more money for the devs than paid versions of the apps.

Not according to any report done on the matter. It’s the reasons Spotify is not profitable

 

[Labeno]

I wonder if this article is just guessing that the reduction in money to advertising on Apple is transitioning to Android. Another possibility is advertisers have less to spend and there is no extra money going to Android.

I for one hope unsolicited data collection becomes illegal at some point. Identity theft and robo calling might start seeing reductions.

 

[WeekendMuser]

I really wish the media would dig in and do better investigative reporting. Nobody who does digital advertising is wound up about targeting. It is fine to go back to a more generalized targeting, and definitely good to see Apple clamp down on crawling across a user’s entire download stack. The problem is mixed messages as to attribution, at least in part because SKAN continues to be somewhat challenged technologically. I’m sure Apple will figure this out, but right now it is very much like a sausage factory - something nobody wants to see or think about.

 

[piattj]

Excellent news

 

[6lack_excellence]

I’m sure this will make google happy ??

I'm not sure this will make MacRumors happy, they get paid off of ads