Chart of the Day: @Apple’s advertising business has more than tripled its market share in the six months after it introduced privacy changes to iPhones that obstructed rivals, including @Facebook and @Google, from targeting ads at consumers. *A Thread*

Search Ads now drives 58% of all iOS app installations that can be tied back to paid ads, according to @branch, whose basket of data comprises 250 major apps including BuzzFeed, Instacart, Strava and Starbucks. That’s more than three times its 17% share a year ago

What has made Search Ads suddenly attractive is not any new feature but the fact that Apple has rendered the rest of the ad industry “blind” in the iOS universe, says @kochavaofficial, whose own data has Search Ads up 69% since June, while rivals are down 43%(!) on average.

One app spending more on Search Ads is SpotHero, but it declines to use Apple’s retargeting tool b/c it worries of being out of compliance with Apple’s own privacy rules(!): “Apple was unable to validate for us that Apple’s solutions are compliant with Apple’s policy.”

Full story: Apple’s privacy changes create windfall for its own advertising business on.ft.com/2YW0DTi

Thanks for sharing this..Apple consumer tend to be premium than rest..also another factor

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If it's a "windfall", have you got the $$ numbers for that? *Market Share* ain't it, given the recent changes.

I think the recent online advertising “aversion” is more twofold than we think. Privacy is a real concern & needs better regulation. Do they need all that info about us? Really? But the fact that most online ads basically are kak is perhaps even more important to most people.

There are too many ads, they are too obtrusive, annoying, blinking, bouncing, noisy, distracting, on top of what you want, badly produced, for crappy products, repetitive. There are just so many things I can buy, but I’m served ads like I’m a billionaire w/o impulse control.

Not quite a good article. Important context is lacking. See…

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When you kneecap the competition without any pushback, this happens.

So what? Apple targeting ads to its users is 100% the opposite of Apple allowing third parties to target ads (and collect user data without said users’ permission). This is a feature of Apple’s privacy policy, not a bug. Kudos to @Apple

Also, advertising revenue is de minimis to Apple’s business. Not even a rounding error. Their privacy policy is pro consumer.

***that can be tied back to paid ads*** Has the share of total app installs from Apple Search Ads actually increased or have installs through other ad networks just become unattributable? I suspect the latter.

this. (Nevertheless, I assume this benefit Apple.)

Kind of burying the lede here. Just because Branch, a tracking company explicitly stopped from performing this kind of tracking without user consent now, can't attribute it doesn't mean it isn't still happening.

Except that Facebook has complained about this, Kochava data shows the same trend, multiple companies are increasing their ad spend on Apple search ads, and in general money is fleeing iOS for Android. Android and Search Ads are safe havens.

The problem with this chart is that Branch (and SKAD) attribute most of the traffic from small campaigns to “other” or “unattributed” (not sure if unattributed is included in this chart or falls into “other”) except for ASA.

This 100% of ASA traffic goes attributed while significant shares of Facebook / Google / Twitter traffic will not be attributed. This breaks the graph and does not let figure out the shares of anything but ASA correctly.

It’s a good callout. Facebook / Google / Twitter attributions happen via SKAdNetwork, which *is* incorporated into this dataset for each of the networks.

I am running ads on all 4 networks. 100% ASA is attributed to ASA on Branch. Only one campaign out of dozens on Facebook + Google is attributed by SKAD/Branch, the rest of traffic from there goes unattributed and I know for sure it is present in massive amounts.

Interesting. We are also running ads on all 4 networks but don't face the same problem because India is primarily an Android market( iOS M/S ~ 5%). We just about started with ASA & at 0.5% of our overall vol. of installs. ASA is a great bang for the buck but will not scale much

Am I correct to assume that the ASA numbers are counting installs/downloads while the other networks are based on install/download AND launch?

I guess it is a question to @branchmetrics but my assumption is that all data points in this graph will be install/download AND launch. It looks like attribution data after launch of the app with Branch SDK in it.

is exactly right 🙌. This data is install+launch for all networks.

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying

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« market share » is a bit misleading, you would think it’s about budgets whereas it’s « only » about attributed installations down to the device. You still have SKAdNetwork for Google, Facebook and others to see the full impact of theirs ads (much more than your chart)

Not to say Apple does not benefit (it does, Facebook, Google and others have less data to optimize, hence budgets are shifting), but still

Except…this data *includes* SKAdNetwork 🤯. (The full methodology probably deserves a thread of its own at some point…)

Oh ok! Very interesting then Thanks for answering

$GOOG is a frenemy given the lucrative search partnership; others highly dependent on the $AAPL platform

Another showcase of how Apple takes advantage of their platform grip.

If an OS update introduces stricter privacy changed, where else do you think ad companies will go? Their market share will decrease because people hate having their info collected. Apple collects comparatively less user info. There is no need for competition in the ads industry.

Frankly, Google have made their ad fortune on the pretext of promoting 'what's best for the users' so, actually, hats off to Apple for finding their angle.

so going to a different search website vs jailbreaking, finding, and installing your own apps are equivalent?

But in this case increasing privacy and shifting paradigm to opt in actually IS better for users (unlike common claims that cross-site tracking and targeted ads are good for users -and anyway people who want that can still have it!)

Yes, agreed. Google is super sneaky about this, e.g. they could argue that Featured Snippets are good for the users... while moving the engagement from the publisher site to Google results... increasing and impressions and clicks in the process

Apple has created an Orwellian definition of tracking where tracking defined as only by 3rd parties tracj and they defined themselves as always 1st party. Apple is tracking users across apps and default opting user into cross Apple app tracking.

Still ….rather be tracked by one than many by default and have to disable only one surveillance effort.

Or Apple could use the same rules for themselves as they do for everyone else. Privacy is a smokescreen for Apple to make billions giving themselves unique access to data.

Apple’s percentage is certainly up, but are they selling more ads or is this mainly the result of a collapse in the size of the market (ie. Apple is not selling much more themselves)?

They’re also selling a lot more in absolute terms: twitter.com/patrickmcgee_/…

If the market remained the same size then Apple’s sales would be up 252% (60%/17%). If Apple’s sales are up, say, 50-100% then that would mean the overall ad spend must have collapsed

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a better evil, maybe?

That’s a good thing.

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Sounds like very anti competitive behavior.

Not necessarily. Do we really need competition in the ad industry? All that will do is just lead to more user info being collected. Apple's ad business doesn't rely too much on user info unlike Google, Facebook, etc.

Yes we do. More competition is better. Apple's ad business most certainly relies on user data just as much a the others.

As far as I know, Apple's ad business takes in less user data (I am not saying none but rather less) compared to others. People have shown their distaste with ad companies. So why have competition in the ad industry? Should we allow ad companies to collect more data?

Although, more competition is better, I agree with that but I'd say that rule doesn't apply in every scenario per say.

Seems like we're talking about 2 different things. Competition is generally better for users. (Pricing, products, innovation...) Collecting data can be used for good or evil. All of these companies collect as much data as they can get away with.

Good thing that they are now forced to collect less data..

If you believe that Apple takes less user data then you are believing on Apple marketing because their legal parts shows otherwise

I don't believe any company's marketing whatsoever... I just do experiments with my Apple devices for fun so, sometimes I stumble upon data collection points & hence, my previous tweet.

Better than Facebook

In the olden days, CBS/NBC/ABC owned advertising on their respective networks, and this was competitive. Even though the iPhone is a platform, there's nothing to prevent other platforms from doing the same. This isn't bad, but good. Anyway, this reach only extends to Apple users.

Yes in the same reason it was fine for Microsoft to leverage windows to get people to use IE.

Yes. How did that work out for them?

Do you think that was competitive behavior? Did the us government think so?

0_0 @andrewfoxwell

…and some believed this was about privacy…

Search ads are inherently more private. You only get the ad based on the keyword of what you are searching at that exact moment.

Could you do the same chart by value, rather than share?

Tripled the share of app downloads attributed to its ads*. Very different than market share.

So Apple search ads are in the App store when you search for a keyword. What is that- "we see you are searching for an app for an Apple product- have you thought of buying an Apple product?" "Um..."

Damn FT not sending their best

But, but…I thought it was all about consumer privacy?

Apple is the only company that respect’s user privacy and their don't rely on ads for their survival as google and facebook do.

... but for their own good. FB and Google work in a triangled business model, where businesses pay for the users' free product. The ladder is best for the consumers. If only they learn to not be affraid of relevant ads... which sadly never happens

What? Are you on opioids or something?

It increased its shares but what about values ?

Ping @didigital_se @breakit_se

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A typical case of distorting facts by filtering out relevant context, in order to provoke outrage. Unlike Facebook ir Google, Apple does not create identifiable personal user profiles for advertising and it doesn’t sell social graph data to advertisers.

None of those points had anything to do with his. He also didn’t mention the speed of gravity.

Is this news to cover up the security news, how their policies just stopped prevention of thousands of zero day exploits for Mac machines and phones? Apple products are currently one of the most unsafe devices to use at this time. Does no one pay attention to "real" news?

Forcing the fishermen further upstream…

Privacy Am I right

Ahha

🤣

Do we know how Branch is attributing app installs? Is it possible that some of the increase in app installs attributed to Apple is because the same ads are running but other touchpoints are now falling outside of the window?

BEAST

Power of the MOAT!

Apple's plot all along: woo the media with an obscure privacy mantra, eliminate all competition and wall-in users, then enjoy an effective monopoly over advertising -- and data.

Seems like it’s mostly at the cost of Facebook

People who think that Apple cares about user's privacy 🤡

Smart business move it seems, its not like the others are not doing them same on their platforms or would do if they could.

this is one MMPs worth of data and it’s not clear if all MMPs would report a similar graph / curve. Unless you’re able to state your market share vs your competitors?

This is why I also tweeted the Kochava data, cited Facebook on the issue, and quote two apps (I got in touch with 20+) that have increased their ad spend on ASA. Numbers at each MMP will be different but should be in the same direction.

Interesting

Feels like that chart popped up in a thousand places already. Skimmed the article. What is the share percentage a part of, i.e. what exactly does "total installs" represent?

I’ve been waiting for this analysis! Thanks for putting together. Can we get an article showing which advertisers in the .com space have been most impacted by Apple’s updates (i.e. SMBs) to shut up the critics saying this article lacks context since it only focuses on apps?

Slaughtering Facebook? Good, take it all, bankrupt them.

Game …. Apple, Google, Facebook #KochNetwork

Hmmm reminds me @MKBHD’s Video:

What if.. users could control and monetize their data? Take a peek at @fractalprtcl 👉 Mainnet launching on Tue #FCL #Web3

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Hmm