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Apple's Internal Data Shows Many iOS 15 Users Turn Off Personalized Ads With Minimal Impact on App Store Search Ads

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Starting with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple introduced a new "Personalized Ads" toggle during the setup process that makes it easier for users to turn off personalized ads in Apple apps such as the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks.

apple-search-ads-app-store.jpeg

In a presentation shared with advertisers, obtained by MacRumors, Apple cited internal data showing that, in the first quarter of 2022, 78% of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 search volume on the App Store was from devices with Personalized Ads turned off across all countries and regions where Apple's Search Ads business is available.

Apple's presentation emphasizes that advertisers can reach interested users without applying audience targeting to their search results campaign. In the first quarter of 2022, Apple's internal data shows that Search Ads had a 62.1% average conversion rate for iOS 15 users with Personalized Ads turned on versus 62.5% for iOS 15 users with Personalized Ads turned off across all countries and regions where Search Ads are available.

Apple said search terms are a direct signal of intent, with the presentation stating that 70% of App Store visitors use search to find their next app.

Apple's personalized ads rely solely on first-party data. In the App Store and Apple News, for example, Apple says a user's search and download history may be used to serve them relevant search ads. In Apple News and Stocks, ads are served based partly on what a user reads or follows, including publishers they have enabled notifications for.

It's worth noting that this data is unrelated to the App Tracking Transparency privacy feature, which only applies to apps using third-party data to track users.

Article Link: Apple's Internal Data Shows Many iOS 15 Users Turn Off Personalized Ads With Minimal Impact on App Store Search Ads
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/11/apple-personalized-ads-data/
MacRumors said:
Starting with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple introduced a new "Personalized Ads" toggle during the setup process that makes it easier for users to turn off personalized ads in Apple apps such as the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks.
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I still would toggle this first party ads method off. Just don't like personalized ads. I appreciate Apple allowing that option to be available.
 
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The Apple App Store search is absolutely and completely 100% rigged. Some of us developers are paying for Search Ads to try and get above scam apps that have not been removed. One I notified to Apple had 1800 fake 5 star reviews. Although they removed most of the reviews it is still near the top of the search. Personally my sudoku game will not show up if I search for "Sudoku" unless I pay for Search Ads.
 
MastersoftMobile said:
The Apple App Store search is absolutely and completely 100% rigged. Some of us developers are paying for Search Ads to try and get above scam apps that have not been removed. One I notified to Apple had 1800 fake 5 star reviews. Although they removed most of the reviews it is still near the top of the search. Personally my sudoku game will not show up if I search for "Sudoku" unless I pay for Search Ads.
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You have to pay Apple extra to get them to promote your app? I thought marketing and promotion was one of justifications for their regular 15% or 30% cut.
 
mikethemartian said:
You have to pay Apple extra to get them to promote your app? I thought marketing and promotion was one of justifications for their regular 15% or 30% cut.
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My Sudoku game does not even appear in the search results for "Sudoku". The way it works has changed. I have been advised to buy Search Ads :)
 
It’s because all this data that is supposed to make things “personalized” rarely actually makes good predictions. At least for me.
 
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From the article:
"Apple said search terms are a direct signal of intent, with the presentation stating that 70% of App Store visitors use search to find their next app."

Knowing the app you are looking for it is far easier to use search than wade through the morass.
Search as a shortcut to the app instead of searching for a new app I suspect is more likely of a cause.
 
Wouldn’t this imply that Apple algorithm is extremely inefficient or that the default has non spoken degree of personalization?

I mean, personalized Ads have been found far more efficient than random Ads everywhere else.
 
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Nuno Lopes said:
I mean, personalized Ads have been found far more efficient than random Ads everywhere else.
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Honestly, even if you had cited sources, I would still be skeptical. The problem is, due to the inherent bias of... well, pretty much everybody... people who do these studies usually tend to find exactly the results that they were looking for. Thus, any studies on personalized ads which were conducted by (or commissioned by) companies which heavily rely upon them as a revenue source would naturally find them to be the bee's knees. (As an obvious sidenote, the same logic can be applied to Apple's results, because they were looking to find the opposite results.)

But, you know... maybe I'm just biased against studies. ;)
 
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dk001 said:
I used to get so tired of personal care product ads.
Do I want them back? :oops:
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I dunno... at least they're easy to ignore. The ads which most annoy me are the ones for a product which I just bought. I mean, seriously... Amazon knows exactly what I just ordered from them; why would they think that ads for five more products exactly like it -- including the one I actually bought -- would somehow entice me to order another one? Do they seriously have that little faith in the longevity of the products that they sell?

(I mean... okay: that last note is actually plausible. But still!)
 
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So, where is this magical setting?

Surprised the article didn't tell us!

I went to Settings, App Store, Personalized Recommendations, and still did not find any option to turn off ads or, rather, personalized ads.

I've long disliked the App Store app going to a grid of apps, and even keeping it in the background when I bring up my account.

Hate the onslaught of colored apps, ads, juvenile characters, too.

In any case, I found a setting there for Personalized Recommendations. Weirdly, it wouldn't let me change anything without logging in, yet it has updates and downloads queued up, a list of what I’ve purchased, etc. I guess it's another security layer, although Keychain works, etc.

I'll have to try it. But odd the setting isn't under Settings!

P.S. Waste of time. Option already off. What a previous poster mentioned is appalling — that a developer's app won't show up unless they pay Apple for App Store search ads. Extortion! The EU needs to hear about that! ? ?
 
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Is this the form of advertisement conversion where someone searches for Google (for instance) and the first thing they see is an ad for the Google app, which is exactly what they're looking for so it's not really a conversion in any meaningful sense, but the advertiser still gets to count a hit?
 
TheYayAreaLiving ? said:
Personally, I have this "Personalized Ads" toggle off so I can save some battery life.
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I don’t see how it would make a difference?

LeadingHeat said:
Almost like search terms should be the only way ads are served. Almost like the old tv commercial days where the “ads” would be targeted towards what shows were playing and on what channels.
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Well, some people may prefer more personal and possibly relevant ads.
 
MastersoftMobile said:
The Apple App Store search is absolutely and completely 100% rigged. Some of us developers are paying for Search Ads to try and get above scam apps that have not been removed. One I notified to Apple had 1800 fake 5 star reviews. Although they removed most of the reviews it is still near the top of the search. Personally my sudoku game will not show up if I search for "Sudoku" unless I pay for Search Ads.
Click to expand...
So, what’s the name of your Sudoku app?
 
dk001 said:
Knowing the app you are looking for it is far easier to use search than wade through the morass.
Search as a shortcut to the app instead of searching for a new app I suspect is more likely of a cause.
Click to expand...
It is true and will always be true that a search using a web search engine will always bring up better information than any digital store’s search.
 
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- Competition in the AppStore is so high that ads are inevitable, even google has to put ads on "google" as a search term else some other fake app with use that term.

- Impact is minimal because Apple never integrated 3rd party data to target users to begin with.

- Keyword based search ads are old tech but, extremely effective in an appStore setting. All you search for there is apps or topics, nothing more to it.

- Personalised ads are good for many, I hate video ads on articles, those are super annoying and amp up CPU load (These should be banned)
 
There’s likely a lot of developers that link their livelihood to “where they appear on an App Store search”. Where, if they did a modicum of advertising OUTSIDE the store, more people would just click their link to their game and download it.

Of course, if the area they decided to specialize in gaming is, say, tic-tac-toe, then one MUST assume that’s going to be a crowded market… hard to bring much attention to yourself with that, or crossword or any of the other “newspaper” games.
 
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