With the launch of iOS 14, Apple has hit the reset button on iOS App Marketing. The major changes for the iOS 14 updates cater to

• What losing the IDFA means for marketers
• What Apple is replacing the IDFA with
• What data-driven marketing will look like in the very near future
• How Singular is supporting SKAdNetwork

The IDFA powers basically the entire iOS advertising industry:

• User tracking
• Marketing measurement
• Attribution
• Ad targeting
• Ad monetization
• Programmatic advertising: DSPs, Exchanges, SSPs
• Device Graphs
• Retargeting
• Audiences

Tracking transparency and control

Even if users opt-in into your app, it’s not enough. Chances are they didn’t opt-in on all the other apps so you can’t really use it for look-alike audiences (that are not visible on other apps). You can’t really using it for retargeting again. So the IDFA only gives a partial view of the user which makes the IDFA unreliable as a measurement methodology. The impact on the Martech/Adtech ecosystem would be profound namely on

• Mobile attribution
• Cohorts
• Ad networks
• Facebook
• Retargeting

Attribution alternatives

1. Obvious fallback: fingerprinting
2. Less obvious: statistical models like Media Mix Modeling . But it feels like we’re taking an offline approach to a digital medium and there have to be more accurate methods
3. New method by Apple: SKAdNetwork which is a framework provided by Apple to enable privacy-friendly attribution and doesn’t require opt-in

All these are discussed below -

Attribution with IDFA

Simple attribution flow -

• Publisher app reports an impression and/or a click
• Advertiser app reports an app open
• MMP attributes an app open with the right impression/click IDFA is the common thread that links publisher and advertiser

Attribution with fingerprinting

Fingerprinting is the art of identifying a device without using its unique ID Without IDFA, fingerprinting could be the fallback but there are drawbacks:

• Accuracy — not perfect but can be improved
• More susceptible to fraud
• If SANs don’t support it — deduping won’t be possible

Fingerprinting in iOS 14:

• No clear statement from Apple yet
• WWDC session says “Fingerprinted ID” is considered tracking
• Apple’s web policy prohibits fingerprinting
• Apple recently rejected 16 Web APIs that can enable fingerprinting

SKAdNetwork

There is a new method by Apple: SKAdNetwork . It is a Framework provided by Apple to enable privacy-friendly attribution . It works for 100% of users and doesn’t require opt-in.

Framework provided by Apple to enable privacy-safe install attribution:

• Ad clicks opening the app store will include “attribution params”
• When the app is installed & opened, it will begin the attribution flow
• iOS will send an install postback to the ad network without any PII

What it gives you:

• Last click attribution that works without consent
• Source, Campaign , Publisher breakdown
• Limited post-install conversion values
• Cryptographic signatures on everything

The limitations:

• No user level data
• No view-through attribution
• Partial real-time attribution feed (device timers)
• Unknown thresholds from Apple

#ios-14 #idfa #app-marketing #android #ios