Apple is Taking Over Meta, Google in Ad Business

A new study by Appsumer revealed that Apple’s ad business has benefited from the company’s major iOS privacy update in 2021, while Google and Facebook appear to be slowly losing steam.

The researchers analysed online ad budgets of over 100 different consumer app companies and found out how the iOS privacy helped Apple streamline its ad business.

Apple has joined the duopoly of Facebook and Google at the top table of advertiser adoption.

Apple’s search ads let people advertise on the iPhone maker’s App Store. According to Appsumer study, advertiser adoption rate for the second quarter rose almost 4 percentage points from a year earlier to 94.8 percent, while Facebook adoption fell 3 percentage points to 82.8 percent. Google’s rate declined 2 points to 94.8 percent.

Shumel Lais, general manager at Appsumer, attributed Apple’s improved standing to an increase in the number of app developers willing to pay big money to bolster downloads. At the same time, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) update has limited the amount of data ad-based apps like Facebook can use to help brands with their online ad campaigns. In a conversation with CNBC he said:

One of the things that’s quite interesting is the ATT measurement limitations that are kind of put on the wider network doesn’t exist in the same way for Apple. So you could say Apple has slightly more visibility or an advantage across the other channels on iOS.

Apple’s rise in online ads for developers mirrors Amazon’s position in e-commerce, as retailers spend more money to promote their products on the site they rely on for customers.

However, Apple is still lagging behind the two ad giants in terms of the overall amount of money developers spend for ads. Google remains at the top, with 34% of overall app developer spend on online advertising. Facebook is second at 28%, followed by Apple at 15%.