Early results from the launch of Apple’s iOS 14.5 show an upending of media advertising platforms and at IAB Canada, we are concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg. With early reports from the US showing some alarmingly low initial rates, as well as our newly released rolling Opt-in Barometer report, all signs are pointing toward significant impact.
Early IAB Canada member reporting with very limited data, has shown some variances across categories as follows:
News: 2-40 with a weighted average of 34%
Arts/Culture/Music: average 37.3%
Video Streaming: average 40%
Shopping/Commerce: 26%
Gaming: N/A
Social Media: reporting 100%
While this initial reporting is not representative of a fully launched iOS environment, we thought it was important to begin capturing the impact for trending purposes from time of launch. Categories will inevitably have varying opt-in rates and there are several other considerations that will have an influence on whether consumers will allow the collection of data. One of the most critical aspects of the opt-in process is the wording of the request to users. As an industry, we must establish some ground rules to ensure that we are all communicating some base level consistencies like labelling the type of advertising being enabled. Some interfaces use the wording “to deliver personalized ads”. In our view, this is misleading and could be potentially off-putting to consumers. Our recommendation would be to use terms like “relevant ads” which, connotes a less invasive experience and is truer to reality.
As IAB Canada continues its work on privacy and the role of the Consent Management Platforms (CMPs)s, standards and best practices will be increasingly important. We will continue to deliver reporting on average opt-in rates by category, best practices for opt-in optimization and resources like this library of ATT prompts which will be updated as time passes, and more examples are added to the gallery.
We encourage you to join us at State of the Nation on May 26th where we will delve further into the new reality of opt-ins, preparing for cookie independence, and the emerging rules of addressing audiences.