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Apple decides to change the rules

On 2021 Apple released iOS 14.5, its big new software update for iPhones. It adds a lot of new features, but the one that’s been grabbing headlines is its new privacy change, which gives users more transparency and control over apps that want to track them for advertising.

Apple's long-debated, long-awaited App Tracking Transparency feature and policy will now be fully enforced starting with the release of iOS 14.5.

A large portion of the apps in the App Store for these devices utilizes a tracking technique called ID for Advertisers (IDFA) to track users' activity between multiple apps published by multiple companies, to inform ad targeting and other monetization and data collection techniques.

On 2020, Apple announced that it would begin requiring all apps to ask for users' permission in advance to do this on an app-by-app basis. Anticipating that many users would opt out and that the change would therefore significantly impact revenue, various app developers and ad networks have criticized the move, saying it will hurt big and small businesses alike.

Those critics are not making that up: the move is likely to have a significant impact on the bottomline for many types of apps that rely on advertising for revenue. But Apple maintains that users' control over how they are tracked and how their data is used and accessed is the most important concern at hand.

Current Situation

These Apple changes will impact us as well. However, the primary thing what we can do is to give a better view what is happening in the market. The below table gives insights on how many identified bid requests Eskimi has received in 7 day period. Identifier is important when it comes to targeting and capping. 

Identified Requests - bid requests that had IDFA and received in 7 day period.

Total Requests - all bid requests received in 7 day period.

Identity Rate - indicates percentage of identified traffic from all received traffic. Calculated: IDENTIFIED REQUESTS / TOTAL REQUESTS * 100%

COUNTRY IDENTIFIED REQUESTS TOTAL REQUESTS
IDENTITY RATE (%)
Argentina 44,610,612 80,865,006 55.17
Armenia 97,994,608 143,848,684 68.12
Australia 575,038,935 1,162,533,109 49.46
Azerbaijan 24,909,631 38,157,544 65.28
Bahrain 41,786,451 70,406,424 59.35
Bangladesh 47,613,371 74,610,133 63.82
Belarus 33,679,367 59,103,149 56.98
Brazil 57,215,499 93,430,096 61.24
Bulgaria 3,317,651 5,271,467 62.94
Burkina Faso 210,423 273,501 76.94
Cambodia 85,384,004 119,311,183 71.56
Cameroon 26,399,547 37,336,257 70.71
Chad 1,057,992 1,550,040 68.26
Chile 31,786,699 48,146,759 66.02
Colombia 23,817,273 39,794,663 59.85
Czechia 7,628,307 17,717,246 43.06
Democratic Republic of the Congo 15,947,395 22,144,410 72.02
Egypt 88,642,398 166,917,357 53.11
Gabon 5,856,980 9,276,305 63.14
Georgia 116,062,689 190,395,292 60.96
Ghana 227,602,588 334,230,122 68.1
Greece 16,064,618 18,947,714 84.78
Hungary 1,638,124 3,652,653 44.85
India 186,079,630 295,290,523 63.02
Indonesia 249,724,395 365,905,857 68.25
Ivory Coast 24,245,771 33,129,942 73.18
Jordan 5,034,178 5,334,573 94.37
Kazakhstan 42,537,013 69,104,383 61.55
Kenya 39,921,477 75,633,024 52.78
Kuwait 99,995,277 136,297,360 73.37
Kyrgyzstan 15,685,647 24,784,200 63.29
Lithuania 34,648,500 74,985,228 46.21
Malaysia 236,523,119 385,159,845 61.41
Myanmar 30,858,210 47,328,172 65.2
Nepal 30,299,603 49,106,385 61.7
Nigeria 312,966,031 471,824,897 66.33
Oman 8,249,217 15,487,769 53.26
Pakistan 25,109,488 40,552,414 61.92
Philippines 185,888,690 315,910,139 58.84
Poland 55,745,563 78,558,049 70.96
Qatar 75,411,112 132,076,932 57.1
Republic of the Congo 5,371,765 7,709,673 69.68
Romania 4,027,420 9,728,136 41.4
Russian Federation 89,191,122 102,556,054 86.97
Saudi Arabia 315,063,355 438,320,650 71.88
Singapore 190,963,974 374,667,330 50.97
Slovakia 2,382,415 5,152,441 46.24
Slovenia 6,509,927 8,359,918 77.87
South Africa 408,149,408 933,822,925 43.71
Sri Lanka 38,227,617 54,972,291 69.54
Sweden 39,054,833 54,977,267 71.04
Taiwan 2,768,812 4,884,174 56.69
Thailand 388,533,368 694,701,492 55.93
Turkey 193,218,578 334,749,962 57.72
Uganda 29,241,552 40,892,176 71.51
Ukraine 392,582,624 683,211,344 57.46
United Arab Emirates 166,992,511 302,587,749 55.19
Venezuela 2,201,641 2,294,660 95.95
Vietnam 285,021,407 442,718,700 64.38
Zambia 14,097,318 21,751,328 64.81

Full country list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jEJrXikDWvqie4oy846fjxtktqq6d02iQxL-JJ8Ak2o/edit?usp=sharing

DATE IDENTIFIED REQUESTS TOTAL REQUESTS
IDENTITY RATE (%)
2021-06-14 1,584,739,674 2,760,978,769 57.4
2021-06-15 1,552,134,889 2,639,048,788 58.81
2021-06-16 1,874,397,040 3,141,122,722 59.67
2021-06-17 1,848,458,712 3,126,053,446 59.13
2021-06-18 1,924,325,671 3,193,631,646 60.26
2021-06-19 1,992,838,848 3,292,191,770 60.53
2021-06-20 1,949,012,331 3,315,953,177 58.78

Insights

88% of all the countries had >50% identified traffic. This indicates that in 88% of all markets over 50% of all received traffic had an identifier. 

63% of all the countries had >60% identified traffic. This indicates that in 63% of all markets over 60% of all received traffic had an identifier. 

25% of all the countries had >70% identified traffic. This indicates that in 25% of all markets over 70% of all received traffic had an identifier. 

6% of all the countries had >80% identified traffic. This indicates that in 6% of all markets over 80% of all received traffic had an identifier. 

While when it comes to daily analytics there is no significant drop for the identified rate. The average identity rate seeks 58%-60% on a global scale. 

The key insight that can be draw from the results is - users are hesitating to adopt iOS 14.5. This is why the rate is still high in all of the markets. 

// BotSonic