With Apple’s App Tracking Transparency having been available for several months now, advertisers have begun shifting their spending patterns. A new report indicates that the prices for mobile ads targeting iOS users have dropped, while prices targeting Android users have increased.

When Apple released iOS 14.5 with the new App Tracking Transparency feature, a report by the Post-IDFA Alliance showed that two weeks after that, advertisers have started spending more on the Android platform.

Now, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, “the prices for mobile ads directed at iOS users have fallen, while ad price has risen for advertisers seeking to target Android users.”

“Digital advertisers say they have lost much of the granular data that made mobile ads on iOS devices effective and justified their prices. In recent months, ad-buyers have deployed their iOS ad spending in much less targeted ways than were previously possible, marketers and ad-tech companies say.“

Digital-ad agency Tinuiti Inc., for example, says its Facebook clients went from year-over-year spend growth of 46% for Android users in May to 64% in June. Its iOS clients, on the other hand, saw a corresponding slowdown from 42% growth in May to 25% in June.

Research director Andy Taylor explained that “Android ad prices are now about 30% higher than ad prices for iOS users.” The report also shows many advertisers have shifted their spending on Facebook’s owned-and-operated app as well.

“Instagram and its namesake social network, which form the core of its business, Mr. Taylor said. Spending to reach iOS users on Instagram and Facebook also slid since Apple’s change, he said, but by less than on third-party apps.

Since the switch, Facebook has significantly altered its Audience Network, which has relied heavily on device identifiers. The company told advertisers in an email last week that it was adding the capability to place contextual ads—which consider factors like time of day and the app’s content—as a way to continue providing relevant ads when certain identifiers aren’t available.“

In May, Flury Analytics data provided the unsurprising evidence that vanishingly few Americans were choosing to allow apps to track them, although it has risen from 4% at that time to 9% now.

The ad industry was afraid that users would largely opt out as a matter of course, and this data does suggest that’s the case. 

Source: 9to5mac