Mobile Ad Companies Set Up Alliance to Address Apple Privacy Changes

A group of advertising companies has set up an alliance to help navigate new privacy changes in iOS 14.

Apple’s decision to emphasize user privacy over targeted advertising has the advertising and mobile game industries worried. So much so that the adtech companies have formed a new alliance to help address the concerns of mobile marketers and app publishers.

A new Reuters report explains that the so-called Post-IDFA Alliance will provide tips and best practices to help advertisers and developers ensure advertisements are placed in front of relevant consumers and the effectiveness of those advertisements can still be measured after the Apple changes are rolled out.

The alliance includes mobile marketing firms Liftoff, Fyber, Chartboost, InMobi, Vungle, and Singular. It represents a broad spectrum of companies instrumental to the mobile advertising industry, though as yet it doesn’t have full representation of every mobile marketing company, nor does it have app and game publishers yet.

“Apple’s upcoming policy change regarding user tracking is a significant change for the industry,” said Liftoff CEO Mark Ellis in an email to GamesBeat. “With the Post-IDFA Alliance, we’re bringing in expertise from supply-side, demand-side, and measurement to arm marketers with the tools they need to navigate this shift seamlessly. We aim to ensure a smooth and successful transition, with the assurance that marketing can and will continue to be just as effective on iOS in this more privacy-centric manner.”

With iOS 14.5 app developers that use IDFA tracking to personalize advertising for users will have to ask users if they want to opt-in, meaning no user can be tracked if they don’t first agree to it. Facebook has been an ardent critic of the move, saying it will seriously hurt small and medium-sized businesses that rely on its advertising services to generate revenue.