Ad industry worried about expansion of Apple's iPhone privacy features
Ad industry experts are concerned about the future expansion of Apple's privacy features on iPhone, including the recently released Private Relay and Hide My Email.
iPhone privacy
Apple released both features as part of its iOS 15 software update, bringing new privacy protections months after releasing App Tracking Transparency -- a privacy mechanism that has pummeled the mobile advertising industry's revenue.
Both Hide My Email and Private Relay are only available to users who pay for an iCloud storage subscription. However, according to The Information, many ad industry watchers are worried that Apple could expand the privacy features or promote them to a wider group of users.
"It's got the industry holding their collective breath," said Grant Simmons, a vice president at ad performance tracking firm Kochava.
The ad industry is concerned about the features because they threaten two data metrics -- IP addresses and emails -- that advertisers have been using to mitigate the effects of App Tracking Transparency (ATT).
Private Relay works like a virtual private network (VPN), masking a user's IP address from site or app operators and encrypting web traffic. Hide My Email creates a randomly generated email address that forwards messages to a user's primary inbox.
While Private Relay blocks many ATT workarounds that companies have invented, Hide My Email will make it harder to know which customers bought its goods and services, complicating efforts to target those customers with future ads.
Robert Jewe, a marketing consultant, said that Apple "will just continue to take out different parts of advertising and marketing." He likened the privacy features to a "tax" on advertisers.
Apple's privacy moves may also have inspired other companies to follow suit. Google, for example, says it plans to bring Apple-like privacy features to Android -- further threatening the ad industry.
While the features have impacted the wider privacy industry, The Information reports that Apple's own ad business has bloomed in the past few years. Apple's ad business generated about $4 billion in revenue in 2021, up from $300 million in 2017. Analysts believe that number could expand to at least $10 billion in the future.
Although advertisers are concerned about Apple's privacy push, the Cupertino tech giant said that the customer response to the features have been "overwhelmingly positive."
Read on AppleInsider
iPhone privacy
Apple released both features as part of its iOS 15 software update, bringing new privacy protections months after releasing App Tracking Transparency -- a privacy mechanism that has pummeled the mobile advertising industry's revenue.
Both Hide My Email and Private Relay are only available to users who pay for an iCloud storage subscription. However, according to The Information, many ad industry watchers are worried that Apple could expand the privacy features or promote them to a wider group of users.
"It's got the industry holding their collective breath," said Grant Simmons, a vice president at ad performance tracking firm Kochava.
The ad industry is concerned about the features because they threaten two data metrics -- IP addresses and emails -- that advertisers have been using to mitigate the effects of App Tracking Transparency (ATT).
Private Relay works like a virtual private network (VPN), masking a user's IP address from site or app operators and encrypting web traffic. Hide My Email creates a randomly generated email address that forwards messages to a user's primary inbox.
While Private Relay blocks many ATT workarounds that companies have invented, Hide My Email will make it harder to know which customers bought its goods and services, complicating efforts to target those customers with future ads.
Robert Jewe, a marketing consultant, said that Apple "will just continue to take out different parts of advertising and marketing." He likened the privacy features to a "tax" on advertisers.
Apple's privacy moves may also have inspired other companies to follow suit. Google, for example, says it plans to bring Apple-like privacy features to Android -- further threatening the ad industry.
While the features have impacted the wider privacy industry, The Information reports that Apple's own ad business has bloomed in the past few years. Apple's ad business generated about $4 billion in revenue in 2021, up from $300 million in 2017. Analysts believe that number could expand to at least $10 billion in the future.
Although advertisers are concerned about Apple's privacy push, the Cupertino tech giant said that the customer response to the features have been "overwhelmingly positive."
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
The ad industry represents some huge financial interests that fund very powerful lobbying firms. If Apple gets too strong on privacy they may seek to shut Apple’s privacy features down by legal means. And as some analysts have hinted out, the majority of consumers don't seem to care anyway.
There are times when I feel there are advertising tentacles in too many places so, while I accept it as a necessary evil to a degree, some of those tentacles are ripe for being cut off.
They were cutting away for commercial breaks in the middle of sentences and often coming back a few seconds after where they had cut away from.
And yes, some of those breaks were so long you literally forgot what you were watching.
As for ads with bogus claims, I guess I just assume (based on life experience) that people will say/do anything in the pursuit of profit. I pretty much start from the assumption that I'm being scammed in some way, and then do research to prove otherwise.
I know countries like the UK try to legislate truth in advertising, but I can imagine so many possible loopholes that it's a difficult battle. I'd personally prefer teaching kids critical thinking skills in schools. Where you take advertisements, news articles, political speeches, etc., break them down into the core arguments/claims and then do analysis on those arguments/claims to determine if they're supported or not. With enough training, it would just come naturally after a while.
One - “He likened the privacy features to a "tax" on advertisers.“ Like dude, Robert, that info isn’t yours, it’s mine and you should pay me for it, not lure me into giving it away for pennies on the dollar. If you really believe that, then pony up all the info you have on your entire family for free, to the whole internet. So we can serve you all efficiently targeted ads …
Two - I’ve never minded AI’s adverts. I mostly read them on an iPhone or iPad, where there’s only one small banner ad at the bottom. Very unobtrusive. If I had a complaint, it’s that they’re become more irrelevant to my interests. In years prior, I’ve found most of AI’s ads (and semi-gratuitous plugs … sorry, reviews
I wonder if they realize advertising was around before Facebook ad-tracking? You wouldn't think so.
Well put!
It has been interesting, being an excessive podcast listener, watching that industry wrestle with this. It started out nearly anti-ad, then transitioned to various forms of ads, some more effective than others (and the most effective kind actually take some work). Now the big media companies and others are getting involved and loudly complaining about the lack of data (which is far more than any traditional media ever had). Hopefully they don't ruin podcasting!
They basically want a bunch of data handed to them on a platter, and then be able to depend on algorithms or idiots to fill content up with advertising.
The most effective form of advertising in podcasting (by a wide margin) is a 'host read' ad that is a good fit for the audience. I say 'host read' because the most effective form of that, is simply the host talking about their own use, excitement, and advocacy for the particular product who is sponsoring the show. (ex: I've purchased a couple products I've heard Marco Arment talk about on ATP over the years. He's a master at it.)
But, again, this takes work. It takes a company finding good podcasts with the right audience, and building a relationship with the podcaster, etc. You can't just throw some cash at a 'ad buyer' who shotguns your 'campaign' across hundreds of podcasts. The reason they want all the data is that they *think* such data combined with algorithms can exceed the performance of what I just described. That's total BS sold to them by Facebook and Google, and they bought it. Now they think they can't live without it.
For the end consumer, it is mostly lose-lose. For the content producer, it means they get paid pennies (I guess rather than nothing?). With a bit of work and sense, it could be much more a win-win. As much as I like to think of the panacea of ad-less content, well-done advertising is often beneficial. I'm actually torn on good-ad or ad-free content. I think some combination of value4value and host-read ads is about perfect for everyone.