In a world where data privacy is more important than ever, it’s no wonder that companies like Apple are always looking for ways to improve the way that they handle customer data. The iOS 14.5 brings with it a range of new features, though the most prominent of these is known as App transparency.
With companies like Facebook warning that App Transparency could impact advertisers across their platform, businesses need to be aware of the changes that the iOS 14.5 update will bring. Let’s take a look at how you can expect your Facebook advert investments to work in the future.
What is App Transparency?
If you’ve used Facebook on a personal level in the past, you’ve probably noticed the targeted adverts that they are able to serve. While these adverts are largely targeted based on your activity on the Facebook platform, they are also influenced by your activity in other apps. For example, if you use the eBay app on your iPhone to look at stereos, you’re likely to see adverts on the Facebook app that correspond with your searches.
Currently, apps on Apple iOS are able to access user data that is collected by other apps without the user being aware. App Transparency changes this, though, forcing companies like Facebook to give their users the opportunity to opt out of this sort of service.
What Does App Transparency Mean For Advertisers?
With or without App Transparency in place, Facebook will always be able to show your adverts to as many users as you want them to. With App Transparency in place, though, it will be much harder for Facebook to make sure that the adverts they serve are relevant to the users that see them.
For example, if you have opted out of data sharing between apps, the same eBay scenario we looked at earlier will be very different. Facebook won’t know that you’ve been looking at stereos, and this means that the eBay adverts they show you will include products that aren’t as likely to interest you.
This will lower engagement, like comments and shares, as the people seeing your adverts are less likely to care about them. This will ultimately make Facebook’s advertising services far less valuable to businesses, forcing them to either lower prices or develop a new structure for their adverts.
One of the key benefits of Facebook advertising is the size of the relevant audiences it is able to provide. As more users opt out of data sharing, though, these audiences will get smaller and smaller, and this is something that Facebook will need to address very quickly as they go into the future.
As you can see, the new Apple iOS 14.5 update is going to have a significant impact on Facebook’s advertising services. Thankfully, though, this issue is very much on the minds of the top executives at the social media company. This will hopefully spur rapid change for this service, ensuring that every advertiser is able to make the most of Facebook’s advertising offerings.