With reports of opt-out rates over 95%, iOS 14.5 is feeling like an even bigger shock than anticipated for publishers and marketers.
It’s hard to get an accurate count—because, ya know, Apple—but one thing is for sure: the majority of people who update their iPhone or iPads to iOS 14.5 will no longer be sharing their information with advertisers. Flurry Analytics puts the figure as low as 6% opt-in for the US, while AppsFlyer says 31% have continued to enable ad-related tracking.
That isn’t to say that your ad buy stopped delivering overnight. With only a small piece of Apple users having installed the updated OS, tangible impact on inventory scale is only just starting to show its face. How much time do we have here? iOS 14.4 took a full 3 months to eventually get to its current 70% install base (note: 70% is not 100%…), so you probably have a solid quarter left to wind down the more affluent half of your Facebook campaigns.
There are also reports that many app publishers are continuing to scoop up data as they please by dragging their feet on issuing any updates to their apps; only upon installing an update are consumers prompted to opt in to tracking. So there is a game to played here in waiting so you can squeezing the life out of sweet, personalized and persistent IDFAs while you still have the chance.
Starting this summer, Android devices will be cool again. As a “green bubble” guy myself, I certainly don’t expect to see a house ad again anytime soon.
Sticking to vegetables,
Tom
