The Introduction of IOS 14.5 Software and Challenges Faced by Advertisers

The launch of IOS 14.5 software by Apple has triggered a flurry of responses from different stakeholders in the ecosystem – from brands to publishers to ad–tech players to app owners and their partners, and not least the end-users. While the launch has sought to protect the end-user’s privacy rights making amends on the erstwhile IDFA provision, it has thrown up challenges for the advertisers and brands, making it harder for them to conduct device-tracking based performance and affiliate marketing activities on the iOS ecosystem.

What are those challenges and what can be done to minimize the effects of those challenges for the advertisers and brands?

The single biggest challenge has been that since the IDFA value would no more be available, it will become very difficult for advertisers to track the end-user usage patterns and thereby making it difficult to carry out retargeting end-customers with suitable advertisements and generate conversions thereafter. In a related way, it also makes measurement and attribution more difficult in the process, making tangible performance-based marketing nearly impossible.

Flowing from the first, even the offering of Skadnetwork by Apple introduced actually to aid the cause of the advertisers, is not without its own set of challenges. In fact, Skadnetwork being a new entity is itself challenging enough for advertisers and performance marketing software companies given the inherent integration issues. Apart from the fact that not all platforms are ready to work on the new entity, the different workflow has further made it quite a task for advertisers. While Skadnetwork allows advertisers to track events and campaigns, it again doesn’t allow end-device tracking. In fact, Apple has ruled out probabilistic matching, which entails correlation of clicks with installs and in-app actions unless, unless user consent is explicitly granted. In the absence of IDFA value, some of the limitations that Skadnetwork entails: the absence of any identifiable information attached to the postback, zero impression targeting, random and delayed conversion postback anytime within 24 hours, and restriction of size of data sent by apps to advertisers to 6 bits, among others. In the end, since there is no real-time individual usage data available, it is a tall order for brands and advertisers.

How Trackier makes it easy for brands and advertisers

First, as a pioneering performance marketing platform, Trackier has already fine-tuned its technologies and systems to stay in step with Apple’s Skadnetwork requirements and is ready to help out brands and advertisers.

Second, as a result, it makes it super-easy for brands to register themselves on the Skadnetwork which would entail getting an Apple ID, enrolment for Apple’s developer programme, verification and generation of unique Skadnetwork ID at a nominal sum. This unique ID will further generate public and private key. Along with the Skadnetwork ID, the public and private keys will help affiliates generate a signature which will help promotion of apps being run by publishers on different platforms while allowing Apple to do further attribution. As such, Trackier helps advertisers, campaign runners and publishers seamlessly integrate with Apple systems.

Third, for non-consenting users, Tracker will give additional info such as click IP, User Agents and data from SDK to the selected MMP partner on the basis of which the latter could conduct further attribution along with data they receive from Apple, making it somewhat conducive for probabilistic attribution methods.

Fourth, while mapping campaign ID to publisher ID, Trackier would be able to give out the names of publishers promoting applications on different advertising platforms.

Fifth, related with the fourth is that Trackier can smoothly collaborate with MMP partner, share privacy postback with them even in the absence of no-click ID on the basis of which, the conversion value can be shared by the MMP partner.

Therefore, even as Apple seems to be leaning more towards an individual’s privacy rights strongly limiting the ability of brands and advertisers to conduct individual device and usage-based tracking and targeting, there are indeed certain performance marketing solutions available which could alleviate the impact of those policies and measures.

BY: Hemant Mann, Co-Founder and CTO Trackier