Appsumer: Apple's privacy measures boosted its own Apple Search Ads

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Apple's privacy measures, which have negatively impacted mobile gaming revenue, have boosted its own Apple Search Ads business, according to a report by InMobi's Appsumer division.

The report provides an overview of advertiser behavior from the second quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022 and reveals that Apple significantly boosted its Apple Search ads through its AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) initiatives (as the privacy measures have been called) , while Facebook and Snap saw steep declines in both wallet share and market share.

I don't know about you, but if I were an antitrust regulator, I'd do a double take on this kind of data, where a major platform owner makes a change that benefits them and hurts their competitors from platform.

Appsumer provides a performance insights platform for mobile app advertisers and unveiled its benchmark report on how top advertisers leverage top sources of app downloads, as analyzed by advertiser channel adoption and share of wallet.

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The report also revealed that small advertisers continue to struggle with the growing complexity of cross-channel advertising; while the number of channels used hasn't changed much, the underlying data shows more detail on how big marketers adjusted their spend in real time.

Large advertisers increased the number of channels used year over year by an average of 1.4 channels for a total of 10.7. In contrast, small advertisers reduced the number of channels used on average from 1.1 year over year to 2.5.

“There appears to be a clear divide between the success of large advertisers and the struggle of small advertisers,” Shumel Lais, Appsumer general manager at InMobi, said in a statement. "Larger advertisers likely increased channels to maintain volume when performance dropped on some channels. Smaller advertisers often lack the creative resources, data and optimization to diversify quickly."

Lais recommended that smaller app players consider creating streamlined experimentation processes to help diversify channels. And he said a cost-effective data infrastructure can help provide valuable insights into the complexities of cross-channel measurement in a post-ATT world.

The report findings also highlight changes among market leaders, including:

Apple Search Ads joins Meta and Google duopoly at top of advertiser adoption, rising nearly four percentage points to 94.8%, while Facebook adoption fell three percentage points to reach 82.8%.

Apple Search Ads' share of wallet increased five percentage points to 15%. Apple's first-party data advantage on iOS for measurement and targeting has helped, but they'll need more inventory, which is why rumors of an Apple demand-side platform (DSP) swirl.

Meta adoption declined by four percentage points, still finishing well ahead with a 28% market share and a 4 percentage point year-over-year decline in their share of wallet. However, data reveals that Meta is seeing an increase in...