The Ad Industry Extends an Olive Branch to Apple

Key Insight:Apple has agreed to hear the ad industry's concerns, but collaboration is far from certain. Away from its product launches this week, Apple has been flexing its muscles when it comes to the media industry. In recent weeks, the $1 trillion tech firm has clashed with publishers over in-app payments and with tech companies over ad targeting permissions. Aside from its high-profile struggle with Fornite publisher Epic Games, Apple's cryptic communications to iOS developers—who rely on ads to the tune of $45 billion per year—led some to fear the iOS app ecosystem's equivalent of Google killing the cookie: the end of IDFA. Apple flexes its muscles In June at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple didn't disappoint when it announced new consent requirements before app developers can pass crucial user data to third parties. This means iPhone users must opt-in to allow the sharing of their mobile identifiers with monetization partners such as measurement providers or ad networks. Speaking at the time, sources told Adweek that Apple's iOS 14, the rollout of which will happen on Sept. 16, could be more impactful than CCPA or GDPR. The snap policy announcement—the industry had just three months to prepare for iOS 14 compared with the two-year timeline Google gave for its cookie ban—put many noses out of joint. So much so that the IAB Tech Lab and IAB Europe penned an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook urging him to adopt consent requirements interoperable with preexisting industry standards. The extent of iOS 14's impact on the industry became apparent when Facebook announced it "may not make sense" to offer its third-party ad network service on iPhones. Under pressure from both regulators and publishers, Apple later gave the developer community a reprieve "to give developers time to make necessary changes" until early next year. The ad industry reaches out This week, the ad industry penned an open letter to Apple requesting further collaboration via the Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media (PRAM), a recently launched trade org representing the 4A's, ANA, IAB, NAI and WFA. "We believe it is vital to avoid the emerging structural risk from a patchwork of conflicting policies around addressability being implemented by the handful of companies that control browsers and operating systems," reads the letter. Specifically, PRAM has invited Apple to discuss how their respective parties can address the issues below once iOS 14 is fully implemented next year, including potential changes to its existing IDFA access policy. They include: Will Apple abide by the same consent requirements it expects of others in its marketing activity?Will it allow IDFA access for non-ad-targeting services such as performance measurement?What tools can marketers use to aggregate common interest groups on Apple devices? The letter goes on to assert "it is imperative that we meet soon" with Bill Tucker, PRAM's executive director, telling Adweek its constituents want a more direct dialog to with Apple to address what they don't understand about its IDFA policy changes. "We'd like to use that time that we have now to begin to really get into it with them and understand all the implications of it, and have them understand what we're about and what we're doing and have them join us," he said. "What we want is a full unpacking of the policy with them, and then hopefully they will work with us on a reasonable timetable that enables us to build solutions as standards for when it actually is implemented." For instance, media buyers are still confused by what the impending policy change means for ad targeting, and many are unclear as to the exact date of the change. The eventual ambition of PRAM is for Apple to engage more proactively with some of its working groups, Tucker told Adweek. Stu Ingis, a partner at law firm Venable LLP, told Adweek that ad-tech companies "have nothing to hide" and that Apple commercials celebrating its privacy credentials depict data discrepancies that are not widely practiced in the industry. "The idea is that we're not trying to hide anything here," he added. "It's an olive branch to say, 'If these are your concerns ... then let's sit down and identify what privacy concerns there are, and what solutions might work.'" Apple's core concerns Apple has not formally responded to PRAM's overture and declined to comment on record to Adweek, although it has made clear through its years-long efforts to minimize third-party ad targeting, tracking and data brokerage that it deems these practices invasive. Apple has existing advertising offerings, and made its own failed play with iAd 10 years ago, but it characteristically makes unilateral policy decisions. While Apple employees are active in web standards bodies such as W3C, it hasn't participated in trade orgs such as the IAB recently (Apple was a member of the IAB from 2007 until 2014). Although Apple was at one point a member of the ANA, a trade org that represents brand-side marketers, it canceled its 15-year membership in February, according to sources. However, some state that Apple has changed its tack when it comes to cooperating with the rest of the industry. DigiDay reported that it is striking "a more conciliatory tone" with the industry, noting that Apple had agreed to meet with representatives of IAB Europe and the Tech Lab in early September. This followed the trade group's open letter urging Apple to consider interoperability with GDPR standards dating back to July. One source with direct knowledge of the meeting told Adweek that Apple was unhappy over the news of the meeting becoming public, hence both parties agreed to NDAs over the contents of the September discussion. As a result, it remains unclear if there will be any subsequent meetings between the IAB and Apple. So, despite Apple issuing a respite for advertisers its iOS 14 rollout, industry sources are mixed over whether or not it will alleviate its planned IDFA restrictions. A separate source with direct knowledge of the IAB's ongoing efforts to continue ad targeting in a privacy-first era, who requested not to be named due to their employer's communications policy, explained one theory as to Apple's positioning: "Apple picked a fight with Google, and they focused on advertising. They're very clever, as that's all of Google and all of Facebook's business," they explained. "They found a chink in their armor, and they're attacking it with privacy."

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The Ad Industry Extends an Olive Branch to Apple

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Ronan Shields

Andrew Blustein

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Ronan Shields

Andrew Blustein