1/ Over the past few weeks, @etgar and I have been examining the implications of the upcoming changes to tracking in iOS/macOS, both the technical and practical outcomes of these.
We'll try to share some of our findings with you on this thread
#ppcchat #marketingtwitter

2/ Quick recap:
The upcoming change will introduce an opt-in window when opening an app, asking if you consent to be tracked

3/ Choose "No", your data won't be sent over to the ad platforms, period
Choose "Yes", your data will be sent with two major limitations:
Anonymized - can't be tied back to you
Delayed - 24-48 hours after the interaction happened

4/ These changes have sparked a feud between FB and Apple, which also drove FB to launch a mass media campaign including these full-page printed ads. FB aren't really the only platform that will take a hit, but definitely the loudest.

For example, Google will take a similar hit.
See this great thread by @eric_seufert https://twitter.com/eric_seufert/status/1343915800684601344

5/ The limitations described above are part of Apple's new SKAdNetwork API which will be the protocol for reporting on app campaigns. This protocol removes any identifiable information about the user and only reports a campaign level conversion back to the ad platforms.

6/ Ad platforms such as FB will have significantly less data available and will rely heavily on statistical modeling. This means that:

a. attribution windows are dead (only 1-day click, the rest is modeled)
b. conversion events will be limited (not just because of Apple, but to reduce noise in the models)
c. remarketing for iOS will become impossible

7/ What about browsers you ask? Well the Apple documentation and releases don't state anything about it.
Going through the changes in the ad platform detailed by FB, it seems like they are expecting similar changes to apply to web browsers, desktop and mobile alike.

8/ So where is this change coming from? Apple has been pushing a new protocol as part of its Webkit initiative, Privacy Click Measurement (PCM), which will apply to *all browsers* on Apple devices https://webkit.org/blog/8943/privacy-preserving-ad-click-attribution-for-the-web/

9/ this will employ similar measures as with the app measurement, but will most likely apply only at a later stage in 2021. Additionally, this protocol will limit advertisers to no more than 64 active campaigns, so that's another change to be expected.

10/ What can we do?
So there's quite a few guides per each platform, but the general recommendation is to transition your tracking to server to server (S2S) solutions. These are already available for FB, Google , Outbrain & other platforms.
Using these will increase visibility

11/ Another key question is how do we optimize creative?
With reporting limited to the campaign level (and extrapolated to ad set level), there's several (equally bad) options available:

a. test on Android creatives on PC & Android, and apply findings to Apple users
b. Use different creative on the ad set level (similar to the notorious SKAGs on Google Ads)

12/ What does the future look like?
Google has declared it will retire 3rd party cookie tracking from Google Chrome in the upcoming year or so. This too will damage many ad platforms (though Google & FB have already moved away from these to a great extent).

They also want to introduce their own protocol for anonymous ad tracking, far less restrictive than Apple's PCM

13/ What do we expect the platforms will do?
The rise of the Walled Garden Campaigns. What happens on FB, well, stays on FB. So they are incentivized to keep you in the platform for as much as they can, completing the transaction within the confines of FB.

14/ During 2020, FB have already introduced Facebook Shops, which allow merchants to sync and sell inventory directly from within FB (including checkout). Google followed suit with Buy on Google

15/ So we're expecting to see more siloed campaigns across disparate platforms (yeah, 2012!). This of course includes Apple's own ad offering, which we expect will be able to target Apple users better than the rest