Lifesight is a company that has been focused on helping advertisers use consumer data to power their targeting, insights and measurements needs for years.
As Apple's iOS 14.5 began to roll out in recent weeks, all digital ad platforms are standing by to understand the full effect of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, and associated requirements around consent of tracking for advertising capabilities.
The entire mobile ecosystem is affected by this privacy update in varying levels, and the full impact is yet to be known as we experience increasing numbers of Apple device users update to the latest version of the operating system.
Focus on building out further scale of inventory partners seems to be a key strategy that providers such as Lifesight are taking - a way to protect the integrity of the data segments being shared for targeting purposes by increasing the audience pools. Doing so inevitably poses a concern over quality of data as new partners and avenues are explored. The communication we have had from the Lifesight team highlights transparency as a core value, helping to mitigate risk here, and showcasing the quality of their network, consisting of premium trusted partners who are expected to hold stronger opt-in rates for sharing the identifier for advertisers (IDFA).
Key Changes
Requesting access from user: All publisher partners will now have to explicitly request access to the user IDFA and demonstrate a case/value proposition for users to share IDFA data with the partner publisher.
- User control: The level of location detection granularity can be controlled by the user and therefore the amount of precise iOS location data is likely to decrease as users opt for “approximate” locations opposed to “Exact”.
- Lifesight are working to increase the number of publishers and integration partners they work with, to maintain the supply of data to a level of significance.
Impact
Lifesight claims to have a user base weighted towards Android, estimating it to be ~80% of their inventory make up globally - subsequently minimising direct impact of iOS14 changes.
- The Apple share of their audience will face the consent and proximity control challenges, and we expect audience pools to decrease as a result.
- IOS dominant markets such as ANZ and Japan will experience the largest impact, however Lifesight have publicly shared their confidence that their audience and attribution solutions will remain viable.
Resolution PoV
As this situation is still evolving, it is too early to tell the full extent of the impact to audience sets, and so all advertisers and providers like Lifesight can do is to monitor closely over the coming months to assess any damage, so to speak.
Despite Lifesight’ Android skew globally, AUNZ is one of the markets where iOS devices prevail, and as such that puts the data at risk of reduced granularity and efficacy. The focus on data privacy and regulation remains front of mind in the industry, with notable trends showing users taking back control of their sharing, and so we anticipate this to not be an Apple-only challenge.
Advertisers should take steps to ensure their first party data strategy is robust, enabling them to leverage an additional layer of targeting power to reduce loss of audience granularity, as well as focus on holistic measurement solutions to maintain an accurate view of their media mix, and associated performance metrics, on the overarching business objectives.
This article is a part of the Apple iOS14 - User Privacy Update and Partners Series. Check out the other articles in this series:
