Ad firms losing 'hundreds of millions' after Apple clamps down on Safari tracking

Posted:
in General Discussion
Online advertising businesses are reportedly losing out on "hundreds of millions of dollars" because of Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP), introduced to Safari last year.




Just one firm -- Criteo, which controls 15 percent of the browser-based market -- is expected to cut its 2018 revenues by a fifth versus projections before ITP was announced, The Guardian said on Tuesday. Since the company brought in $730 million in 2016 alone, the impact of ITP industry-wide could be severe.

"We expect a range of companies are facing similar negative impacts from Apple's Safari tracking changes," said the general manager of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Tech Lab, Dennis Buchheim. "Moreover, we anticipate that Apple will retain ITP and evolve it over time as they see fit."

ITP took effect with iOS and macOS updates in September. Criteo and other companies briefly exploited a loophole, but Apple is said to have closed that on iPhones and iPads with December's iOS 11.2 update, forcing ad firms to come up with new strategies.

Intelligent Tracking Prevention curtails the use of cookies, which can potentially be used to build up detailed profiles of someone's Web activity -- for instance leading to jewellery ads for someone reading about weddings, even if they then go to completely unrelated webpages.

Several ad industry organizations protested ITP in September, calling it "unilateral and heavy-handed," and a threat to the "valuable digital advertising ecosystem that funds much of today's digital content and services."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 67
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    It’s almost as if Apple owns the only platforms worth advertising on. 🤔
    tmaywlymanton zuykovStrangeDayslollivertdknoxmacseekerMuntzracerhomie3christopher126
  • Reply 2 of 67
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Do we need a class action on this? Do users need a toggle switch and transparency from Apple whenever they intelligently prevent a site from tracking a user? /s
    edited January 2018 wlymmagman1979anton zuykovStrangeDaysjbdragonboltsfan17andrewj5790racerhomie3edredpropod
  • Reply 3 of 67
    Just one firm -- Criteo, which controls 15 percent of the browser-based market -- is expected to cut its 2018 revenues by a fifth versus projections before ITP was announced, The Guardian said on Tuesday. Since the company brought in $730 million in 2016 alone, the impact of ITP industry-wide could be severe.
    Oh noes, what are we going to do? They should start goFundMe campaign to support themselves and protect themselves from evil Apple....
    tmayStrangeDayswilliamlondonlostkiwidoozydozenbaconstangwatto_cobraSpamSandwich
  • Reply 4 of 67
    Good job Apple.
    These AD agency didn’t ask user’s permission to track them. Now Apple police the Ad and protect the user. And they complain about it, it is a little odd.
    tmaymagman1979williamlondonjbdragonmacseekerMuntzracerhomie3toysandmelostkiwidoozydozen
  • Reply 5 of 67
    aybaraaybara Posts: 45member
    As long as home ISPs give data caps, unless you are paying me to download and watch your ad, I will block them in most cases.

    Granted ads aren't 'huge' but some sites are lousy with them.  There was another Apple fansite I used to visit that Ad Blocker would block upwards of SIXTY ADS before the actual non-ad content loaded.  That is outrageous.
    tmaymagman1979StrangeDaysjbdragonmacseekerlostkiwiJWSCdoozydozenmuthuk_vanalingam[Deleted User]
  • Reply 6 of 67
    mavemufcmavemufc Posts: 326member
    Good, I for one have found safari better to use over the last few months and long may it continue.
    magman1979lolliverMuntzracerhomie3lostkiwiairnerdwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 67
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,273member
    Good.
    magman1979Muntzlostkiwiexsanguswatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 67
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    But NOBODY uses Safari! We hear that daily on this site and others. Safari sucks, Chrome rulez. Even Firefox is better than Safari. No one and and I mean NO ONE uses Safari as their browser so why would ad companies be losing money because of a browser nobody uses? 

    Or could it be that the nerd herd, techie wannabes who make those pronouncements are the real outliers, the clueless wonders who just like to be negative by trashing anything Apple?
    edited January 2018 magman1979jbdragongregg thurmanlollivertdknoxiCintossteven n.Muntzurahararacerhomie3
  • Reply 9 of 67
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    lkrupp said:
    But NOBODY uses Safari! We hear that daily on this site and others. Safari sucks, Chrome rulez. Even Firefox is better than Safari. No one and and I mean NO ONE uses Safari as their browser so why would ad companies be losing money because of a browser nobody uses? 

    Or could it be that the nerd herd, techie wannabes who make those pronouncements are the real outliers, the clueless wonders who just like to be negative by trashing anything Apple?
    Both Chrome and Firefox have ad-blockers too. The impact on a company like Criteo is coming from several directions. 
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 10 of 67
    So that is why the creepy ads on AI's website are no longer there! Amen!
    bloodshotrollin'redwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 67
    zroger73zroger73 Posts: 787member
    Online advertising businesses are reportedly losing out on "hundreds of millions of dollars" because of Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP), introduced to Safari last year.
    "Aw." - Sissy from Sordid Lives



    williamlondonkudu
  • Reply 12 of 67
    but safari users are a minority. and there are more android mobile and windoze desktop and laptop devices out there. do ad firms only publish on apple platforms?
    Muntzracerhomie3
  • Reply 13 of 67
    gatorguy said:
    lkrupp said:
    But NOBODY uses Safari! We hear that daily on this site and others. Safari sucks, Chrome rulez. Even Firefox is better than Safari. No one and and I mean NO ONE uses Safari as their browser so why would ad companies be losing money because of a browser nobody uses? 

    Or could it be that the nerd herd, techie wannabes who make those pronouncements are the real outliers, the clueless wonders who just like to be negative by trashing anything Apple?
    Both Chrome and Firefox have ad-blockers too. The impact on a company like Criteo is coming from several directions. 

    Funny, I don’t see Criteo complaining about Chrome or Firefox.
    edited January 2018 magman1979StrangeDaysradarthekatlolliverGG1macseekerMuntzracerhomie3lostkiwiRayz2016
  • Reply 14 of 67
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    Even Google is going add an ad blocker to their browser.  Yes, Google.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/01/google-confirms-ad-blocker-coming-to-chrome-in-2018.html

    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 15 of 67
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    gatorguy said:
    lkrupp said:
    But NOBODY uses Safari! We hear that daily on this site and others. Safari sucks, Chrome rulez. Even Firefox is better than Safari. No one and and I mean NO ONE uses Safari as their browser so why would ad companies be losing money because of a browser nobody uses? 

    Or could it be that the nerd herd, techie wannabes who make those pronouncements are the real outliers, the clueless wonders who just like to be negative by trashing anything Apple?
    Both Chrome and Firefox have ad-blockers too. The impact on a company like Criteo is coming from several directions. 

    Funny, I don’t see Criteo complaining about Chrome or Firefox.
    You aren't paying attention to what you're reading. Where did Criteo single out Safari in this AI article?  The quotes you might be attributing to them are not from them but instead an advertising trade group. 

    I would agree that much of the loss might be attributable to Safari tracking changes, but not the only reason. 
    edited January 2018 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 16 of 67
    magman1979magman1979 Posts: 1,292member
    Even Google is going add an ad blocker to their browser.  Yes, Google.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/01/google-confirms-ad-blocker-coming-to-chrome-in-2018.html

    How much do you wanna bet that is strictly for public relations, but under the hood there will be default exceptions to allow all of Google’s ad systems to continue working, and they will silently advertise that as a plus to their ad customers?
    StrangeDayswilliamlondonlolliverpatchythepirateGG1macseekersteven n.racerhomie3[Deleted User]jony0
  • Reply 17 of 67
    but safari users are a minority. and there are more android mobile and windoze desktop and laptop devices out there. do ad firms only publish on apple platforms?
    It could be that they value iOS users as more valuable. After all, the latter spend more money on apps, which indicates their higher spending habits, when it comes to ads. Demonstrating ads to a potential customer that does not have any money is pointless, since no money can be made there (except by ad companies). I would not be surprised if they sell iOS users as a more valuable group.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 67
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    Even Google is going add an ad blocker to their browser.  Yes, Google.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/01/google-confirms-ad-blocker-coming-to-chrome-in-2018.html

    How much do you wanna bet that is strictly for public relations, but under the hood there will be default exceptions to allow all of Google’s ad systems to continue working, and they will silently advertise that as a plus to their ad customers?
    The way Apple has designed this limits the impact to a company like Google, still permitting some tracking and retargeting of Safari users. You won't find Google among the companies complaining. Yes, Apple allowed little understood or reported exceptions of their own. They aren't interested in killing tracking or the ads as much as getting the worst of 'em blocked and reducing the overall number of personalized ads a Safari user sees. 
    edited January 2018 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 19 of 67
    bengbeng Posts: 34member
    Whenever I can, I send the following message to sites that gripe about ad Blockers:

    Dear [fill in the blank],

    You have noted that I have an ad blocker and have asked me to Whitelist your site.  The answer is NO, I WILL NOT.

    The reason is simple.  The pervasive popup adds are an extreme nuisance and represent an invasion of my privacy by improperly using my browsing information.

    I have no desire to put you out of business, nor do I object to "honest" advertising.  You have plenty of space on your site to place legitimate ads.  Please do so and quit pestering me with the false comment that you need the popup adds to survive.



    StrangeDayslostkiwiRayz2016[Deleted User]beowulfschmidtjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 67
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,821member
    Won't somebody think about the poor buggy whip makers?!
    Rayz2016watto_cobraaricb
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