The latest features unveiled by Apple in iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma bring even more privacy-centered elements to the table. These fresh innovations are primarily focused on guarding user privacy while web browsing.

 

The standout feature is the novel Link Tracking Protection, a mechanism that springs to action in Mail, Messages, and Safari when using Private Browsing mode. It acts as a detective, scouting out user-specific tracking codes within link URLs and subsequently sweeping them away.

 

 

The business of adding tracking parameters to links is a favored tactic of advertising and analytics companies. It provides them (us marketers) with a means of mapping user activity across different websites. Instead of creating third-party cookies, a unique identifier is appended to the URL of a page. This cleverly sidesteps the security measures of Safari that usually block cross-site cookies and other storage methods.

 

 

Visiting a URL tagged with such identifiers permits an advertising or analytics service to extract the unique parameters, which are then linked to a user's backend profile. This then allows for serving up targeted, personalized ads. Apple is poised to launch an offensive against this practice throughout its operating systems.

 

 

The Safari browser has been enhanced to automatically recognize and excise the identifying parts of a URL, while leaving the rest untouched. This ensures that users can still reach their intended web destination without a hitch. This occurs without any visible signs during browser navigation in Safari's Private Browsing mode, and when users click on links from Mail and Messages.

 

 

 

However, Apple isn't leaving advertisers in the cold. As a consolation, the tech giant is providing an alternate means for marketers to gauge the success of their campaigns. The newly enabled Private Click Measurement ad attribution is now accessible in Safari's Private Browsing mode. This permits advertisers to assess ad campaign conversion metrics, while still keeping individual user activity hidden.

 

 

In essence, this shift by Apple challenges the status quo in digital marketing. Advertisers need to rethink their strategies and start adapting to a world where user privacy takes precedence. This not only has implications for audience targeting but also for ad performance measurement. For marketers, the insights gleaned from ad metrics might have less granularity, necessitating creative and privacy-compliant ways to personalize and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.

 

 

On a broader level, it signals a continuing shift towards an online world where privacy is increasingly prioritized, pushing all industries to adapt their digital strategies accordingly.

Jaskaran’s Take:

I mentioned in a recent marketing thread on reddit. Even though we don’t see it, Data driven marketing is dying and it is getting too expensive.

Reddit & Twitter’s API changes are only the first examples of what will happen. Even though these changes pose more revenue threat to data companies & developers.

AI is opened these data holders: Meta, Reddit & Twitter to the idea that they need to measure how their data is used. One of the first examples is internally from Reddit, there are new insights about them negotiating with Google. About how much reddit data was used to train Bard.

Overall you might feel like data will be taking over with AI. Wait a few years, AI will itself have a problem sourcing new data.

For New Marketers & Businesses, I will provide a better breakdown of impact this week in the newsletter.