This has been a tumultuous week for us in mobile marketing – and as the dust settles down over the week, I wanted to share a list of resources that we’re reading and learning about the post-IDFA world + what it’ll look like.
We’re all figuring this out – and there are a few facts and a LOT of opinions out there. I dont think anyone has answers yet – but quite a few people, including some of the smartest folks we know, have thoughtful takes on what is unfolding & happening.
Reading all of this helped us understand the landscape – and get some clarity on the way ahead. We wanted to share these to offer some clarity – and some idea of what might be good questions to ask, and good ways to think about everything that might unfold.
Without further ado, here we go.
Why Apple’s “Consent for IDFA” announcement is a game changer for online and mobile privacy: by Phil Lee
-> Apple’s announcement should not be viewed in isolation. Instead, it’s part of a growing trend towards giving users greater control of their online and mobile data. Google announced earlier this year, for example, that it would be phasing out third party cookies over the next two years in its Chrome browser. The privacy-centric browser, Brave, recently announced that it has now passed 15 million monthly active users (representing 2.25x MAU growth over the past year), while other browsers (Safari, Firefox and Edge) have also trumpeted their own privacy improvements. The trend is clear: users want, and are being given, ever greater control of their online data.
-> Despite this, no one has yet come up with a solution for weening mobile and web publishers off of ad-funded content and history tends to show that, however much users may care about their privacy, they are not yet willing to pay to access online content as an alternative means of funding; indeed, re-introducing subscription models on a widespread basis across the web will likely only serve to reduce access to online content and disproportionately affect lower income families and users. It may be that non-targeted, contextual-based advertising will come ever more to the fore – but, for that to be the case, advertisers will want to see that it can drive the same kinds of conversions that targeted advertising can.
A complete disruption of mobile advertising – A large proportion of mobile ad tech will simply cease to exist:•no room for MMPs
•LaL audiences are likely going away
•every adnetwork will offer AEO & VO
•Retargeting is going away
•mobile DSPs are doneIDFA iOS14 Thread ⬇️ https://t.co/VW4t9OJEkm— Thomasbcn (@Thomasbcn) June 25, 2020
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On Twitter via Nebojsa Radovic(@eniac)
I wanted to share a few thoughts on the death of IDFA that I don’t think were covered so far and that are potential solutions for all the challenges that will come with this change.— Nebojsa Radovic (@eniac) June 26, 2020
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The TechFirst podcast on LinkedIn – w/ John Koetsier and Eric Seufert
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IDFA iOS 14 FAQ: What’s true, what’s fake, and what’s total fantasy
FAQs to common questions – via Gadi Eliashiv of Singular.
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iOS 14 and Privacy Changes: Why this is actually not so bad news for advertisers: Nadir Garouche
This now means that it will be on Apple (indirectly through iOS apps themselves and SKAdNetwork) to validate installs and confirm network attribution.
This change will actually also means that advertisers will have more accurate install data: since it’s now the device OS that will confirm the install of an app, rather than a third party analytics solution. It also means less, or no, fraud.
What is still unclear is how (or if) other details will be still passed to MMPs: such as campaign costs, creatives, device and OS details and so on.
I see the broad optimism in his take. I do think far too many stakeholders are incentivized to make this right for advertisers – BUT there are many unanswered questions.
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Apple Just Crippled IDFA, Sending An $80 Billion Industry Into Upheaval: John Koetsier
Great broad overview of what’s been happening + the broader ramifications – from the micro to the macro.
Apocalypse Soon: What happens when the iOS advertising ID is deprecated?
The very prescient Eric Seufert called it very early on – and saw clear signs that this was coming.
Would your business survive the elimination of the IDFA?
If a business is wholly reliant on perfect marketing attribution at the level of the individual user, then that business can’t weather the deprecation of the IDFA (and its viability with the IDFA is likely only illusory).
The coming war between Apple & Facebook
Until recently, Facebook and Apple were in a sort of alliance of necessity, given their common enemy in Google: both companies were incentivized to not brazenly confront the other’s core business on mobile, since Google represented a more pressing and harrowing threat to both. But that tenuous solidarity may have been eroded by product and policy changes from both companies, creating a tension that has the potential to spill over into an all-out war.
Great 2017 piece on some of the underlying dynamics that led us to where we are now. The seeds of what happen today were sown way back in the day.
Mobile Apps: The Road To First Party Analytics: Kevin Bravo
The way it works: we’ll collect Apple Search Ads attribution data, as well as conversion events triggered by users, and send it over to a specific destination (Search Ads HQ or even a company’s internal warehouse).Elixir doesn’t store any data as everything is sent from the user’s device, straight to the destination, without including the IDFA. Elixir offers a way to get conversion and attribution data in the same place while ensuring the respect of users’ data privacy. Even if it doesn’t replace it, it can be used in addition to your analytics solution for campaign optimization.
This looks like one of the earliest solutions that could work in a post-IDFA setting – via the iAd API – by Kevin and the folks at Phiture, who I respect a lot(although tbh due to my own relative lack of expertise w/ Apple Search, this is something I still need to think through + wrap my head around).
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