IDFA | GeorgMedia

November 1, 2021

Apple’s iPhone privacy upgrade cost Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Snap nearly $10 billion in ad revenue, report says

Tim Cook Mark Zuckerberg — Apple CEO Tim Cook (left) and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Nick Wass/Associated Press/Apple

Apple introduced a privacy change for iPhones in April this year.
The change forces apps to ask users’ permission to track them for advertising purposes.
An ad data firm told The Financial Times that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Snap lost $10 billion as a result.

Apple’s upgrade to iPhone privacy has cost social media giants including Facebook almost $10 billion so far this year, The Financial Times reported.

Apple rolled out a privacy update in April that forces apps to show users a pop-up window asking for consent to track their activity for advertising purposes. If users select no, Apple blocks that user’s unique identifier for advertisers – a tool that allows advertisers to build up profiles of people and target them with ads.

Lotame, an advertising data company, told The FT that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Snap collectively lost 12% of their advertising revenues in Q3 and Q4 from users choosing to opt out of ad tracking on Apple devices.

Mike Woosley, chief operating officer at Lotame, told The FT that advertisers were getting less value for money from iPhones after Apple’s privacy changes, because they had to cast a wider net to target the same people.

Woosley gave a theoretical example of a men’s underwear brand that previously could have gained one customer for an ad targeted at 1,000 men. “Now to get 1,000 men you have to show it to 2,000 people, because all of a sudden you don’t know who is a man and who is a woman,” Woosley told The FT.

Lotame’s estimates found that proportionally, Snap lost the greatest amount of ad revenue, while Facebook lost the most in terms of absolute spend from advertisers.

Facebook said in August 2020 that Apple’s privacy change could devastate part of its advertising business, and attacked the move in December 2020 with full-page newspaper ads.

In January 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Apple was becoming one of Facebook’s “biggest competitors.” In March 2021, Zuckerberg said the company could end up in a “stronger position” following Apple’s privacy change.

Read the original article on Business Insider

March 25, 2021

Seeking nominations for the advertising and marketing execs helping their companies prepare for a data-privacy world

Alphabet Inc.’s Google logo.

Ng Han Guan/AP Photo

Insider is looking for the top ad executives at the forefront of navigating data and privacy.
They could be pioneering things like a new contextual targeting approach or a first-party database.
Submit your nomination by 9 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 31.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Data has long been a buzzy word in advertising, but it’s never been as critical as it is today.

Google and Apple’s plans to phase out mainstay ad-targeting tools are forcing advertisers to evolve their ad targeting, while the consumer shift to digital streaming and e-commerce are changing the way marketers collect and use people’s data.

Some companies are responding by buying startups to help scale their approach to data, while others like ad holding giant WPP are building new data operations themselves.

Insider is looking for the advertising and marketing executives who are at the forefront of helping their companies navigate these changes, whether it’s pioneering a new way of contextually targeting or building a new first-party database.

This list will be based on nominations and our own reporting. The execs can come from marketers and agencies, but should be in the weeds of tackling data and privacy, not necessarily at the C-Suite level.

Submit your nomination through this form by 9 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 31.

Read the original article on Business Insider

March 19, 2021

Mark Zuckerberg has said Apple’s upcoming privacy changes could strengthen Facebook, after months-long PR campaign against them

Mark Zuckerberg said Apple’s upcoming privacy changes could put Facebook’s commerce products in a “stronger position.”
The social media giant has been fighting Apple over the changes since August.
The change will force developers to ask users’ permission to track them for targeted advertising.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has struck a very different tone on Apple’s imminent privacy changes – which will force the company to ask users’ permission before giving their data to advertisers – claiming they could leave it in a “stronger position.”

After months of the social media company fighting Apple over the changes, Zuckerberg told a discussion on Clubhouse on Thursday, “I think the reality is that I’m confident that we’re gonna be able to manage through that situation. And we’ll be in a good position. I think it’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position.”

Zuckerberg’s words come after a public fight between Facebook and Apple over the upcoming changes that began last August when Facebook said the update could decimate part of its advertising business.

The changes on iOS14 are expected to roll out soon and will force app developers like Facebook to ask users for permission before tracking them via Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA).

In January, Zuckerberg said Apple had become one Facebook’s “biggest competitors” and accused it of stifling competition under the guise of privacy protection.

Speaking on Clubhouse, Zuckerberg said he now believed the changes could strengthen Facebook by encouraging sellers to go directly via Facebook’s commerce products, as targeted advertising on the platform was rendered less effective.

“Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct commerce on our platforms, by making it harder for them to basically use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms,” he said.

“But the thing that I’ve been mostly focused on is that a lot of these changes are going to make it harder for small businesses and developers. And I think the situation is going to be challenging for them to navigate.”

He added, “I just think it’s one of the reasons why Facebook has been a bit outspoken on this is, there are certain principles that we care about and empowering individuals is one of them.”

Facebook has consistently claimed the changes will hurt small business, in December going so far as to take out full-page newspaper ads saying, “We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere.”

Read the original article on Business Insider