William Gallagher
Google reports that its earnings have been only modestly affected by Apple's App Tracking Transparency since iOS 14, so far.
Following Apple's introduction of App Tracking Transparency, a reported majority of iPhone users have elected to choose "Ask Not to Track" for their apps. However, the impact on advertisers appears to have been less than expected.
Facebook famously and repeatedly objected to Apple's iOS 14 privacy plans, but its latest earnings show no precipitous decline in advertising revenue. Then Twitter reported the same for its earnings.
Now according to MarketWatch, Google and its parent company Alphabet is saying it was only slightly affected. It reported YouTube revenue of $7.2 billion, just short of analyst predictions of $7.4 billion.
"[We're] pleased with the strength across our business in the third quarter, it was broad-based, it was global," Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said. "In terms of the iOS 14 changes specifically, they had a modest impact on YouTube revenues."
Google and Alphabet gave no further details, but Twitter's Q3 2021 Letter to Shareholders says that the impact was "modest" specifically because of how it has moved to using Apple's SKAdNetwork.
SKAdNetwork is Apple's replacement for the previous Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) tags.
Apple's Craig Federighi previously predicted that the impact would be significantly less than feared, and that this was specifically because of the implementation of SKAdNetwork.
"We introduced intelligent tracking prevention, several years ago," he said, "and at the time, parts of the ad industry were saying that the sky was going to be falling in and that their business was going to be destroyed by the fact that they couldn't track everyone from website to website to website.
"Well, in fact, if you look at what happened to the industry, that didn't happen at all," he continued, "and yet we also protected user privacy."
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First Twitter, and now Google saying that it has had little effect on their bottom line.
Could it be that FB is exaggerating? Lying for some unethical reason? Trying to establish a false narrative for some nefarious plan?
I wouldn't put it past that lying SoS Zuckerburg.
"Google owner Alphabet Inc on Tuesday reported higher than expected third-quarter ad sales, a sign that the business is overcoming new limits on tracking mobile users and that online shopping is as popular as ever heading into the holiday season.
Through its search engine, YouTube video service and partnerships across the Web, Google sells more internet ads than any other company. Demand for its services surged in the past year as the pandemic forced people to spend more time online, and their new habits have persisted.
Google advertising revenue rose 41% to $53.1 billion during the third quarter. Alphabet's overall sales jumped to $65.1 billion, above the average estimate of $63.3 billion among analysts tracked by Refinitiv."
So Youtube may have seen a modest affect, but Google ad sales overall not so much with another record quarter in the books. There's good reasons Apple has continued to pursue targeted ads as another potential source of massive profits in the future.
Fun Fact: Alphabet easily beat analyst expectations, banking more $Billions in profit, yet the stock price was down afterwards. Not unlike what happens to Apple stock after results. The stock market is irrational IMHO, a house built of cards.
Well, we were treated to a report couple of days ago about how Google and Facebook were working overtime to get around Apple’s privacy initiatives. That shows how much they respect user’s requests for privacy doesn’t it. Gotta have that data to sell or they are out of business.
I would anticipate Google and YouTube being separated into two distinct companies either by choice or by legal action at some point. They have become so immensely wealthy, able to do pretty much whatever they choose, that they cannot be allowed to exist as they do.
From buying up potential competition to some segment of their business from found couch money, to making their own rules to be followed by an entire industry, and worse than that as far as governments are concerned, denying agencies access to Google customers data with E2EE in the cloud and in messaging despite what those agencies say they must do....
Thumbing their nose at governments spy and police agencies will never go over well, and I believe Alphabet will answer for it. Google has made it too easy for government to produce viable reasons surrounding ad policies and privacy worries. They are too big and powerful and D-Day is coming. Unfortunately perhaps for you the rest of big US tech won't be far behind. The massive power they wield and huge percentage of the economy they control will not be allowed to stand. Come back in ten years and the Google and Facebook and Apple we see today will be far different.