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iOS privacy has killed facebook advertisements. Meta is dealing with it currently - so are all small businesses who relied on good conversion from their ad tar

iOS privacy has killed facebook advertisements. Meta is dealing with it currently - so are all small businesses who relied on good conversion from their ad targeting that has gone to isht since then. Apple will probably fill in that void at some point they've got a lock on all that intelligence. I'm curious how long it will take and how they will manage to do it without stepping on privacy toes.

tomrod 4y ago
If Apple doesn't, it seems a bit insane to miss the opportunity. Note that I strongly dislike adtech as a business model, but my hat is off to their cunning marketing if Apple pulls it off.
- creato 4y ago
  As much as I can’t stand any company involved here, if apple does what you suggest it would be far more offensive than any other supposed antitrust violations alleged over the last few years.
- bee_rider 4y ago
  They have an advertising platform already, right? Apple has been around for a while, they I wonder if the company has some institutional 'survival instinct' that's identified growing the ad platform become too much as long-term unhealthy. It is a corrupting influence that makes the consumer into the enemy, after all. They've also managed to become incredibly huge while somehow mostly dodging the eye of regulatory bodies. Privacy could mess with that track record and I'm sure they are aware of that fact.
TacticalCoder 4y ago
> iOS privacy has killed facebook advertisements A problem I see with FB is that they don't control anything on which they run. They run on stuff from their competitors: it's either Google (Chrome / Android), Microsot (Windows / Edge) or Apple (OS X / Safari / iOS). Despite the downturn these three behemoths are still enjoying a market cap in the trillion+. Meta is actually down to $360 bn. Meta controls neither the OS nor the browser. They want to change that by having people switching en masse to the Metaverse but I'm really not sure this is happening.
- losvedir 4y ago
  But Facebook is a platform unto itself. If it was still an enjoyable product that everyone used, and connected to their local interests and groups on, they could still have great, targeted advertising I think. But people don't really seem to use it much anymore in earnest, and their targeting probably relied more on 3rd party scripts across the Internet which are being restricted.
  - usrusr 4y ago
    I'm still in the habit of clicking that Facebook bookmark occasionally, and have a few extend circle contacts who regularly post. But nine out of ten times the page does not even update anything beyond the server-side populated parts above the fold. Those "story" or what they are called snapchat(?) clones? They work even less frequently. Sometimes they do, so I assume that it can't really be a systematic failure on my side like some weird browser configuration issue. Apparently Facebook, the website, is crumbling on the inside (technology) as much as on the outside (audience).
    - tarsinge 4y ago
      > Apparently Facebook, the website, is crumbling on the inside (technology) This is what makes me really uneasy about React. I feel there is too much cargo cult of a technology that doesn’t even work for their creators in the first place.
- 411111111111111 4y ago
  > They want to change that by having people switching en masse to the Metaverse but I'm really not sure this is happening. The tech isn't even close to there yet. Current gen VR tech demos sparks the imagination, and it's definitely great for people that want to like it... But that's not even close to good enough for mass adoption. Their teased prototypes look like a solid upgrade, but it's still not going to be enough. Mobile procedures just don't have enough graphics power yet and the one's we do have consume too much power. We're missing several hardware breakthrough before mass adoption becomes likely from my perspective as a VR headset owner. It's probably gonna happen eventually, but not necessarily with current tech. Meta might succeed if it stays on the ball and keeps pushing for centuries, but i don't think it's management will do so.
spaceman_2020 4y ago
The high price of Apple products in markets like India was such a great targeting filter for D2C products by itself. There was a time in 2020-21 when you could literally throw any random ad for a premium product, choose iPhone users as your target, and land wild conversions.
unity1001 4y ago
It defies description why they aren't bringing context-sensitive ads back. They didn't follow you all around the Internet, they were relevant in any given context, and you felt less need to block them out mentally.
- jjulius 4y ago
  I was more likely to click on context-sensitive ads. Most targeted ads I see these days are for products that I've already bought in the past few weeks, which just boggles my mind. Edit: Even today, I'm still seeing ads for a subwoofer that I bought back in early August. Good going, Meta.
- magic_hamster 4y ago
  I bet that showing ads based on context is somehow limited to people being in that context (i.e. in a specific website for instance), while being able to draw an audience from the entirety of Facebook users (in the billions) is more profitable.
r00fus 4y ago
> Apple will probably fill in that void at some point a) what if they don't? Why should they? b) I would lose a lot of trust in Apple if they did. I don't buy iOS devices because I trust Apple Ads better. I buy them because I can avoid ads better and my privacy doesn't get shredded in the process. c) Wouldn't that be a massive antitrust issue?
- Ozzie_osman 4y ago
  Apple already is filling that void. If you run your ads on third-party networks, you are beholden to Apple's privacy rules. But if you run Apple Search Ads through, Apple itself, a lot of the same rules don't apply and you get targeting and attribution back. A lot of advertisers are thus shifting their ad spend into Apple.
  - r00fus 4y ago
    But this is just in the App Store, right? Not on web or within iOS spotlight. Honestly I don't use FB, but my wife does, and I can tell you she spends about 1/100th the time in the Apple App Store as FB. I don't see Search Ads as having anywhere near the same context.
    - Ozzie_osman 4y ago
      Yes, their inventory is smaller at the moment, but they also show ads in News and Stock apps (note that those ads are personalized and don't have an ATT prompt by default.. so Apple apps don't have to play by the same rules as others). My guess is they will continue to expand inventory to other Apple apps (eg Maps, etc), but whether they try to build a full-fledged ad platform (where you can use Apple to buy ads in 3rd party apps) is yet to be seen.. they'd definitely have to overcome a backlash if they did that.
      - hnaccount_rng 4y ago
        Where do you get ads in the Stocks app? At least I don't. Though the yahoo finance news stuff is rather useless.

tomrod 4y ago

If Apple doesn't, it seems a bit insane to miss the opportunity. Note that I strongly dislike adtech as a business model, but my hat is off to their cunning marketing if Apple pulls it off.

creato 4y ago
As much as I can’t stand any company involved here, if apple does what you suggest it would be far more offensive than any other supposed antitrust violations alleged over the last few years.
bee_rider 4y ago
They have an advertising platform already, right? Apple has been around for a while, they I wonder if the company has some institutional 'survival instinct' that's identified growing the ad platform become too much as long-term unhealthy. It is a corrupting influence that makes the consumer into the enemy, after all. They've also managed to become incredibly huge while somehow mostly dodging the eye of regulatory bodies. Privacy could mess with that track record and I'm sure they are aware of that fact.

TacticalCoder 4y ago

> iOS privacy has killed facebook advertisements A problem I see with FB is that they don't control anything on which they run. They run on stuff from their competitors: it's either Google (Chrome / Android), Microsot (Windows / Edge) or Apple (OS X / Safari / iOS). Despite the downturn these three behemoths are still enjoying a market cap in the trillion+. Meta is actually down to $360 bn. Meta controls neither the OS nor the browser. They want to change that by having people switching en masse to the Metaverse but I'm really not sure this is happening.

losvedir 4y ago
But Facebook is a platform unto itself. If it was still an enjoyable product that everyone used, and connected to their local interests and groups on, they could still have great, targeted advertising I think. But people don't really seem to use it much anymore in earnest, and their targeting probably relied more on 3rd party scripts across the Internet which are being restricted.
- usrusr 4y ago
  I'm still in the habit of clicking that Facebook bookmark occasionally, and have a few extend circle contacts who regularly post. But nine out of ten times the page does not even update anything beyond the server-side populated parts above the fold. Those "story" or what they are called snapchat(?) clones? They work even less frequently. Sometimes they do, so I assume that it can't really be a systematic failure on my side like some weird browser configuration issue. Apparently Facebook, the website, is crumbling on the inside (technology) as much as on the outside (audience).
  - tarsinge 4y ago
    > Apparently Facebook, the website, is crumbling on the inside (technology) This is what makes me really uneasy about React. I feel there is too much cargo cult of a technology that doesn’t even work for their creators in the first place.
411111111111111 4y ago
> They want to change that by having people switching en masse to the Metaverse but I'm really not sure this is happening. The tech isn't even close to there yet. Current gen VR tech demos sparks the imagination, and it's definitely great for people that want to like it... But that's not even close to good enough for mass adoption. Their teased prototypes look like a solid upgrade, but it's still not going to be enough. Mobile procedures just don't have enough graphics power yet and the one's we do have consume too much power. We're missing several hardware breakthrough before mass adoption becomes likely from my perspective as a VR headset owner. It's probably gonna happen eventually, but not necessarily with current tech. Meta might succeed if it stays on the ball and keeps pushing for centuries, but i don't think it's management will do so.

spaceman_2020 4y ago

The high price of Apple products in markets like India was such a great targeting filter for D2C products by itself. There was a time in 2020-21 when you could literally throw any random ad for a premium product, choose iPhone users as your target, and land wild conversions.

unity1001 4y ago

It defies description why they aren't bringing context-sensitive ads back. They didn't follow you all around the Internet, they were relevant in any given context, and you felt less need to block them out mentally.

jjulius 4y ago
I was more likely to click on context-sensitive ads. Most targeted ads I see these days are for products that I've already bought in the past few weeks, which just boggles my mind. Edit: Even today, I'm still seeing ads for a subwoofer that I bought back in early August. Good going, Meta.
magic_hamster 4y ago
I bet that showing ads based on context is somehow limited to people being in that context (i.e. in a specific website for instance), while being able to draw an audience from the entirety of Facebook users (in the billions) is more profitable.

r00fus 4y ago

> Apple will probably fill in that void at some point a) what if they don't? Why should they? b) I would lose a lot of trust in Apple if they did. I don't buy iOS devices because I trust Apple Ads better. I buy them because I can avoid ads better and my privacy doesn't get shredded in the process. c) Wouldn't that be a massive antitrust issue?

Ozzie_osman 4y ago
Apple already is filling that void. If you run your ads on third-party networks, you are beholden to Apple's privacy rules. But if you run Apple Search Ads through, Apple itself, a lot of the same rules don't apply and you get targeting and attribution back. A lot of advertisers are thus shifting their ad spend into Apple.
- r00fus 4y ago
  But this is just in the App Store, right? Not on web or within iOS spotlight. Honestly I don't use FB, but my wife does, and I can tell you she spends about 1/100th the time in the Apple App Store as FB. I don't see Search Ads as having anywhere near the same context.
  - Ozzie_osman 4y ago
    Yes, their inventory is smaller at the moment, but they also show ads in News and Stock apps (note that those ads are personalized and don't have an ATT prompt by default.. so Apple apps don't have to play by the same rules as others). My guess is they will continue to expand inventory to other Apple apps (eg Maps, etc), but whether they try to build a full-fledged ad platform (where you can use Apple to buy ads in 3rd party apps) is yet to be seen.. they'd definitely have to overcome a backlash if they did that.
    - hnaccount_rng 4y ago
      Where do you get ads in the Stocks app? At least I don't. Though the yahoo finance news stuff is rather useless.