The new tracking protection function “App Tracking Transparency” implemented with iOS 14.5 is apparently causing Facebook more than expected. The social network has now announced this in a blog entry with which Facebook is primarily aimed at its advertising customers.
In this, the company swore its advertising customers ” that the increasing headwinds from platform changes, especially the latest iOS updates ” will show up again in the third quarter than was the case in the second quarter. The costs for achieving the respective advertising goals are said to have risen significantly for many customers, which is recently mainly due to Apple’s new data protection measures.
With new tools to the old status
At the same time, those responsible are trying to spread optimism that the efforts to develop new technologies to improve data protection will soon bear fruit. The aim is to minimize the amount of personal data processed and still create the possibility of showing personalized advertising and measuring its effectiveness. At the same time, however, Facebook asked for patience – the effort ” will take time “. At the same time, the development is to be counteracted with its own new tools.
The company also stated that the poorer results are partly due to fewer reports on the social network. For example, Facebook stated that iOS web conversions were spent around 15 percent too low overall and that the real numbers of actions on advertising, such as sales and app installations, for many advertisers are in real terms higher than the reported values.
The majority of users refuse tracking permission
It had already been indicated in spring 2021 that advertisers would have to struggle with Apple’s new settings : According to a study by the mobile analytics company Flurry, the proportion of users who decided to use advertising tracking after the changeover should be determined, at that time it was just five percent. The analysts also do not assume that the proportion will increase significantly in the future.
Share lower than expected
Up to iOS 13, Apple Apps granted free access to the Identifier for Advertising (IDFA), which represents an advertising ID that is uniquely assigned to the respective mobile device. Similar to Android, this can be deactivated by the user if desired. With the function introduced with iOS 14.5, however, users now have to explicitly declare their consent to tracking by apps. At the time of the introduction, advertising companies and developers assumed that only around two thirds of iOS users would refuse their consent – the figures presented just a few months later speak a much clearer language.
In order not to suffer any losses, Facebook as well as the Instagram network, which is also part of the group, sometimes developed a certain “creativity”: For example, when the program started, the company gave the impression that Facebook would run the risk without consent, no longer in the future to be free. This procedure is allowed by Apple, but Facebook went a step further and linked the use of both apps to the approval for tracking. At the same time, the company threatened an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. In April of this year, Facebook, together with dozens of the largest media companies and advertising networks, including Axel Springer Verlag, called the Federal Cartel Office.
Even if experts in the past gave Facebook little chance in the legal dispute, the conflict is likely to continue for some time.
