Restrictions On IDFA may Shift Mobile Budgets To TV
Apple’s planned restrictions on use of IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers), requiring publishers to obtain an express opt-in, is ringing throughout the advertising world.
But on the TV side, it won’t be as big of an issue. When it comes to connected TV and OTT, Apple simply does not pull the strings the way it does with mobile. Apple doesn’t have a monopoly on TV, nor does it have the same audience scale or high-value demographic reach with Apple TV as it does with the iPhone.
In terms of OTT, publishers that are more dependent on mobile will have to face a new layer of complexity that didn't exist before. Companies in the TV space who depended on Apple’s common identifier on mobile, such as publishers who rely on streaming via an iPhone, will experience marginal impact.
So while marketers may lose a degree of access to consumers through their mobile devices, this move now makes CTV/OTT arguably the best vehicle to reach those same consumers on a one-to-one basis.
It’s time to think of TV as another digital channel
As a consequence of the loss of IDFA, experts expect to see a shift in ad budgets from mobile to other digital channels. Connected TV is an excellent place to start.
Rather than waste ad spend on high-level targeting on Apple devices, you can refine to a household or even individual level with connected TV. By thinking of connected TV and OTT as another digital channel, you’re still able to reach “Apple households” – not through an iPhone, but through another device in the household.
Even though Apple is the first tech giant to make this type of change, they are unlikely to be the last. Marketers must address this potential issue now and focus on building other pathways to their customers. Don’t leave yourself at the mercy of a few monopolistic players. In order to be prepared for a shift away from device-ID based mobile strategies, now is the time to invest in connected TV and OTT partners that can provide sophisticated audience targeting solutions and measure real business outcomes such as in-store sales, just like you could across iPhones! What makes this possible? CTV and OTT are essentially digital in nature meaning that ad requests for these platforms include identifiers that we find in digital such as device IDs and IP addresses. Our ability to tie these identifiers to offline data such as frequent shopper cards or credit card transactions at the household level is very similar to how it is done in the digital realm.