Apple's next iOS 14 update, which was announced at WWDC 2020, could bring dark clouds to Facebook's audience network, the company said in a statement. blog post. The new update brings anti-tracking changes to the board that limit the capacity of its apps and services when collecting Identifiers for Advertisers (IDFAs).
These identifiers are then used to send personalized advertisements to users through Audience Network. Audience Network is primarily used to serve advertisements embedded in mobile applications outside of Facebook.
On iOS 14, Apple made IDFA a disable option which in turn prevents Facebook from collecting data for cross-app and cross-device tracking. To give you an idea, if you are using the beta version of iOS 14, you can go to Settings> Privacy where you will find a new " Tracking " section. Here you can prevent apps from tracking your activity on apps and websites owned by other companies.
"We know this can seriously affect the ability of publishers to monetize through Audience Network on iOS 14 and, despite our best efforts, may make Audience Network so inefficient on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it on iOS." 14 in the future. . "
Facebook has warned that such changes limited the capabilities of its audience network and could even hurt publishers on its platform. The company says publishers should expect lower CPMs due to the lack of personalized ads, which will lead to lower ad revenue.
As a result, Facebook won't be collecting IDFAs from devices running iOS 14. It even hinted that it could remove Audience Network from iOS 14 devices in the future if things don't change.
In its previous tests, Facebook found that publisher revenue from the audience network dropped by 50% when personalized ads were turned off. The company is trying to find workarounds and says it is working on short and long term strategies. However, Facebook has also said it expects a lesser impact on its own advertising business due to the changes.