Page 23 - Adnews Magazine May-June 2021

“In its current state, the internet is broken and it is a multi-billion dollar problem,” says Verizon Media AUNZ head of data Dan Richardson. “It’s broken for brands who invest in digital ads but can’t identify their customers across devices, or which media placement is actually driving their online conversions. It’s broken for consumers who con- tinue to receive the same ad, or the wrong ad over and over again, despite handing over their personal information or browsing behaviour. It breaks trust for the consumer who fails to see value for their data,
and devalues the brands reputation and investment.”
Another big shakeup that’s coming to tracking is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature. This will force apps to ask for permis- sion before tracking users across apps and websites and is set to be
rolled out in late April after being delayed from last year.
If users opt out, Apple won’t share their Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA). This move has many concerned with surveys indicating the opt
out rate could be as high as 60%.
Other functions, such as measurement, that IDFA has allowed before
could be threatened by the update.
Some media buyers are predicting that Apple’s opt-in requirement
will likely impact performance around 10-15%.
Ad-funded apps, including big players such as Facebook, will be impacted by this move given Apple’s dominance in the market.
Facebook initially publicly criti- cised Apple for the move, taking on full-page newspaper ads in the US last year hitting back. The social media giant accused the update from Apple would force websites and blogs “to start charging you subscription fees” or add in-app purchases due to a lack of personalized ads.
More recently, Facebook has said it acknowledges that the way digital advertising collects and uses data will evolve.
“While we have expressed concerns about Apple’s approach, we support giving people more control over how their data is used to improve advertising rele- vance,” the company said in a statement on April 21.
“Toward this end, we are invest- ing in new approaches to privacy-en- hancing technology and building a personalized advertising ecosystem that relies on less data, while helping to ensure a level playing field for both large and small businesses.”
With all the changes around how users will be tracked, the lasting impact this will have on digital adver- tising isn’t clear. However, media buyers agree that brands need to get their first-party data in order.
“It will be years until the market reaches consensus on the technol- ogy, and methodology, to achieve balance between marketers and con- sumers from a tracking perspective,” says MightyHive Asia Pacific director of data analytics Jakub Otrzasek.
“It is an iterative process with some marketing tactics lost or becoming no longer viable.
“Many marketers have built out a strong practice in direct data track- ing by leveraging personalized iden- tifiers, but the overall digital adver- tising ecosystem is shifting and requires brands to play a more active role in fostering engagement and connection with their consumers.
“Data is being exchanged, not captured. Effectiveness is becom- ing more probabilistically modeled and less directly tracked.”
Meanwhile MediaCom’s Collier says that the changes will affect different advertisers in different ways and that there won’t be a one
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