Assessing the Impact: What to Do About IDFA Depreciation
With the release of iOS 14 now expected sometime early 2021, Apple will require all app developers to self-report on their privacy practices. Users will see summarized privacy information in the App Store prior to downloading, and they will be able to control the data an app is collecting with in-time permissions notifications. Given the opportunity to easily opt-out of tracking, IDFAs are expected to significantly drop.
In what we see as a continued “cookie-less” world, Apple is reinforcing their own privacy stance with the deprecation of id based tracking. Apple is essentially taking a previously somewhat hidden setting, LAT (Limit Ad Tracking), and bringing it to the forefront to users for individual app downloads. Marketers will need to assess customer identifying tactics and forecasting models to keep up with the impending transitions.
What does IDFA Depreciation Mean for Advertisers?
USER PERMISSION TO TRACK
Users will be presented with two options on downloading apps: “Allow tracking” or “Ask app not to track.” If a user opts-out, web events will be impacted, potentially resulting in limitations on measurement and ad effectiveness.
IDFA’S ≠ ANALYTICS IDENTIFIER
Apple is confirming that IDFA is not to be used as an analytics identifier by app developers. Advertisers have up to this point, used IDFA’s to track data to deliver customized advertising.
ATTRIBUTION VIA SKAdNetwork
Apple’s owned advertising networks (SKAdNetwork) will provide access to information that identifies the specific app from where installations occur.
How to Adjust Marketing After Apple's Privacy Advertising Updates
MEASUREMENT
Historically, ad servers have used IDFA to match users for targeting and for measurement in third-party apps. 3rd-party ad servers that don’t connect direct identifiers to users (like Facebook does) will no longer measure data at the individual level. Without a bridge of sorts to link mobile IDs back to ad networks, attribution on mobile will begin to rely more on statistical analyses of available data from the segment of opted-in users.
TARGETING
Any first-party data collected and linked back to mobile IDs can be used within ad networks to create strong lookalike audiences and allow for effective personalization. Decile’s capabilities allow the usage of this first-party engagement data to create segmentation and clusters. Remarketing and Event Optimizations will be ineffective on ad servers unless they currently employ user-specific identifiers (phone number, email, etc).
OPTIMIZATION
App developers should begin or continue to require users to register accounts using first-party identifiers. Due to the drop in ad personalization, CPMs are expected to continue to rise. A media mix model supported by predicted data science will allow marketers to spend efficiently on mobile and bypass complications caused by attribution, limit ad tracking, and id deprecation.
IN SUMMARY
The deprecation of IDFA solidifies the push for consumer privacy across platforms and in accordance with changing legislation. There will be a greater reliance on first-party customer lists in all digital advertising platforms.
Advertisers and marketers will need to adjust their media mix as privacy legislation advances across the country, and browsers and devices continue their privacy-as-a-product strategies. To plan for any impact towards performance and measurement, advertisers can no longer rely on platform-provided products. They must have a tool set that supports segmentation, analytics, compliance, and onboarding.