If you are a business owner or an advertiser, you may want to listen up. You may have seen that Apple and Facebook are in a slight ‘battle’ over Apple’s new iOS14 update. In June 2020, Apple announced iOS 14 updates that, among other changes, require apps to ask users for permission to collect and share data using Apple’s device identifier.
What does that mean for you?
Well, as more people opt out of tracking on iOS 14 devices, ads personalisation and performance reporting will be limited for both app and web conversion events. Advertiser ability to accurately target and measure their campaigns on Audience Network will be impacted, and as a result publishers should expect their ability to effectively monetize on Audience Network to decrease. Facebook confirmed a few other potential impacts including:
- There will be a delay in real-time reporting which could be delayed up to 3 days. Web conversion events will be reported based on the time the conversions occur and not the time of the associated ad impressions
- Your ad set optimizations will be negatively impacted based on the default 7day click, 1 day view optimization (ad set level) not having as much data to look back on.
- As more people opt out of tracking on iOS 14 devices, the size of your app connections, app activity Custom Audiences, and website Custom Audiences may decrease.
When is it happening?
Many Apple users have already upgraded their operating system on their iPhone or iPad, or have bought new devices with the new operating system. The impact will be able to be measured more in the middle of 2021 when more users have updated their systems.
Is Facebook the only platform impacted?
No. This update impacts ALL apps that rely on collecting user data to build ads or personalise services. This includes Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and many more.
Is organic Facebook Marketing affected?
It isn’t known for sure, but since the newsfeed relies on signals from users such as who they are interacting with, the groups or pages they join etc. This could have an impact on what ads appear in their newsfeed.
What can you do about it?
Facebook has provided a full list of actions that you can take to prepare that can be found – here. But for now, Be prepared and aware that you will most likely receive less accurate data. We won’t know the extent of this until later this year.
It is important to note that no one, including Facebook, is completely sure how this is going to unfold. Information will constantly unfold and we will have clearer information as the year progresses.
If we are managing your ads, we will let you know what needs to be changed and when. If you would like support please reach out.
*Information provided by Facebook Business
