There has been a lot of buzz around iOS14 and how the rollout will affect advertising across paid media platforms, with Facebook & Google’s performance being impacted. This rollout will have a significant impact on the personalized data that is passed between iOS devices and apps.
At this moment, a lot is unknown about the post-iOS14 world, but there have been some responses from today’s Ad Tech giants.
In short, the rollout will now require apps on Apple devices to run ATT prompts, which ask users if the app has permission to gather user data across apps and websites. Naturally, it is anticipated that there will be drops in performance data with users opting to not have their information tracked.
This will not completely eliminate Apple’s figures, with the tech giant allowing apps to collect aggregated data, which will be anonymized. It is key to note that this aggregated data collection will come with delays in reporting.
So how will this affect marketing efforts?
Overall Impact
- Reduction in website custom audience sizes and challenges with retargeting and prospecting due to increased overlap between segments (suppression will have gaps)
- 24-48 hour delay in events reporting due to Apple’s pass back of anonymized data
- Loss of access to demographic insights (age and gender) for users who have converted via iOS14 devices
Of course, we will look a bit deeper to see how this will affect the two advertising giants – Facebook & Google.
Facebook Web Campaign Impacts
- Pre iOS14 update, Facebook was able to track unlimited events (i.e. purchase, add to cart, page view), but now we can only track up to 8 events for users who opt in and only 1 event for users who opt-out
- Tracking and event reporting will have to be consolidated to remove granularity if 8 or more standard and custom events are tracked
- Since a conversion event is the highest priority and therefore will be the 1 event chosen, retargeting users who opt out will be difficult.
- Facebook will be removing the default attribution window of a 28-day click, 1-day view, and will be transitioning over to a 7-day click, 1-day view.
- This means we will see fewer reported conversions.
- Web conversion events will be reported based on the time the conversions occur and not the time of the associated ad impressions
- This will not have an impact on conversion volume but is important for understanding the new attribution system.
Facebook App Campaign Impacts
- Pre iOS14 update, Facebook was able to track unlimited events (i.e. purchase, add to cart, page view), but now we can only track up to 8 events for users who opt in and only 1 event for users who opt-out
- Tracking and event reporting have to be consolidated to remove granularity if 8 or more standard and custom events are tracked
- Since a conversion event is the highest priority and therefore will be the 1 event chosen, retargeting users who opt-out will be difficult.
- If using the Facebook SDK, update to version 8.1 or above. If the Facebook SDK is not updated, you will be unable to run iOS14 app install campaigns.
- Post iOS14 update, advertisers must create a separate ad account for iOS14 app install campaigns.
- You will need to plan to operate all iOS 14 app install campaigns in one ad account per app, with 9 campaigns per app and 5 ad sets per campaign of the same optimization type.
- Failure to comply with the SDK & Ad Account updates before the release of Apple updates will result in ad spend being paused.
- You will need to plan to operate all iOS 14 app install campaigns in one ad account per app, with 9 campaigns per app and 5 ad sets per campaign of the same optimization type.
- For iOS 14 app install campaigns, conversion events will be reported based on the time that they are reported to Facebook by the SKAdNetwork API
- This can lengthen the delay in conversion reporting on the Facebook Platform.
- Facebook will be removing the default attribution window of 28-day click, 1-day view, and will be transitioning over to 7-day click, 1-day view.
- This means we will see fewer reported conversions.
Facebook Proposed Solutions
As mentioned earlier, to mitigate data loss, Facebook has created “Aggregated Event Measurement” which will help support the measurement of web events from iOS14 users once Apple requires the ATT prompt. This will not be perfect and we are anticipating approximately a 15-30% drop in attributable conversions.
This percentage change in attributable reporting may vary significantly for campaigns due to differences in consumer purchasing journeys.
We continue to work closely with Facebook to get ahead of these changes and implement the most effective solutions for our clients.
Google Mobile Campaign Impacts
- UAC or App campaigns will be impacted to the largest extent as they directly rely on IDFA for tracking conversions.
- All other campaigns (YouTube, Search, Display) will also be impacted, given the ability to personalize ads in-app will be limited, with an anticipated 10-20% decline in performance data.
- Google expects the impact to be lesser than other channels since the majority of inventory is not served through the iOS app store.
Google Proposed Solutions
Currently, Google has released SDK updates to Apps (explained further here) however, has still not released an official solution to counter the impacts on other campaign types.
Next Steps
We have provided a few steps that can be taken to help with your iOS 14 readiness.
Direct Agents is prepared to lead clients through this latest change in the industry.
Want to learn more about how iOS14 will affect your business? Contact us at [email protected].