Report: spending on iOS ads has fallen one-third between June 1 and July 1, while Android spending rose 10%; less than 33% of iOS users opt-in to tracking
Android ad prices have jumped, as iOS users opt out of being tracked, early data show — Advertisers have begun shifting …
Context & Ripple Effects
The spending shift extends an earlier post-ATT pattern: Android ad spending had already risen while iOS spending declined as iPhone users withheld tracking permission. It also follows iOS privacy prompts that had reduced marketers' access to location data, weakening the data inputs used for targeting.
The new one-month change matters because it shows advertisers reallocating budgets between the two mobile platforms, rather than merely reporting lower tracking consent.
First-order effects
- Advertisers are cutting iOS ad outlays as fewer than one-third of iOS users permit tracking, while directing more budget to Android.
- Android ad prices rise as increased advertiser demand competes for its available inventory.
Second-order effects
- Facebook advertisers face weaker tracking and new-customer targeting campaigns on iOS, a problem later reported across its advertiser base in the early ATT fallout for Facebook campaigns.
- Ad-measurement providers must assess performance with less iOS user-level data, making platform-specific budget allocation more consequential for advertisers.
Third-order effects
- If opt-out rates persist, mobile advertising pricing and campaign measurement will increasingly diverge by operating system, with Android carrying more performance-marketing demand.
- Apple's privacy controls are shifting bargaining power away from cross-app targeting and toward platforms and ad products that can operate with less user-level tracking.
The trend: Mobile ad budgets are being redistributed according to each platform's access to trackable user data, turning privacy policy into a pricing and measurement variable.