Mobile advertisers will likely never forget the summer of 2021. Until then, Apple enabled them to track specific user activity on iOS 14+ with IDFA (Identifier for Advertiser), which made retargeting both easier and more efficient.

However, understanding customer demand for greater privacy, Apple revoked the option, leaving many advertisers feeling lost. Starting this summer, Apple ATT (App Tracking Transparency) asks users whether they’re interested in sharing their information with app owners and advertisers. Beforehand, users had to make an effort to protect their privacy, and many weren’t aware of their options. Now, when the option is presented to them with a simple pop-up message, many customers choose “no” on the Apple ATT.

Advertisers, therefore, find themselves wasting precious dollars, as their ads for one gender reach another, and the overall interest and intent targeting becomes significantly less accurate.

But thankfully, advertising on Apple’s iOS 14+ devices isn’t the only option. In this new ecosystem, smart advertisers are diversifying their investment utilizing DSPs as well.

How DSPs Help Advertisers Generate Results in a Post IDFA Ecosystem

DSP stands for Demand Side Platform. It’s an automated, programmatic, algorithm-driven media buying platform. As we previously shared, DSPs calculate the best bid to get you the impressions they need at the moment they become available.

They’re not connected to your usual big players, like Facebook and TikTok (more on why that’s a benefit in a bit), but to a variety of other media sources and exchanges. They’re not meant to replace the big players, either, so this isn’t a suggestion to stop advertising on Apple’s iOS 14+ devices in a post IDFA ecosystem.

Instead, we recommend tapping into DSPs to expand your media buying toolkit. Often, DSPs enable advertisers to utilize even small budgets more efficiently across channels and geographies.

DSP mobile advertising

1) Diversify Your Ad Investment

Before privacy concerns were addressed and Apple ATT was launched, advertisers were encouraged to invest larger budgets in iOS14+ devices. However, as massive of an audience as Apple has, people using iOS14+ devices only comprise a portion of the market. Like we’ve discussed Facebook and Google, there are more baskets for your advertising dollar eggs.

Diversifying your ad spend across the channels DSPs have to offer will actually help you reach a larger audience. You still get access to very high-quality inventory. You show your audience you care about their privacy by advertising on channels that protect it. And, just as importantly, you protect your own user acquisition safety.

When you do that, you stop relying exclusively (or mostly) on one media channel. As we’ve seen this time and many times in the past, a channel can change the rules on you whenever it decides, or whenever regulation decides for it.

A post IDFA world is a challenging one for sure, but it also holds hidden opportunities for advertisers who are open to discovering them.

2) Overcome Platform Advertising Fatigue

As efficient as IDFA was for advertisers, constantly advertising to iOS 14+ customers presented another challenge on top of privacy concerns. It’s called advertising fatigue. We often see it with clients who dedicate their entire budget to the same big platform or two, such as Facebook and Instagram.

On the one hand, members on these platforms see the same advertisers over and over again. Unless you surprise them with truly outstanding creative, it gradually becomes more and more challenging to gain their attention and clicks.

On the other hand, after a while of focusing so much of their budget and effort mostly on one platform, advertisers maximize their reach. Their ads show up over and over again in front of these fatigued audiences, without drawing in new ones, who might be a great fit, but hang out elsewhere online.

It’s kinda like going to the same beloved grocery store in a small town. You know the people, you love their products, but when you finally make it to the supermarket in the big city, you find yourself with an almost endless stream of exciting products that could be a great fit, but you never would have discovered them if you hadn’t ventured outside your comfort zone of daily habits.

3) Actively Discover the Most Profitable User Acquisition Channels for Your Specific App

Just because Apple ATT leads to less data doesn’t mean a post IDFA ecosystem is completely data-less. In fact, that’s one of the reasons it’s recommended to test out DSPs. DSPs tend to offer transparency – you see exactly which media source led to higher acquisition in a more cost-effective way. The more you use them, the more data you gain, the more comfortable you get making experiments, and the better results your bidding provides.

With DSPs, it’s very easy to conduct user acquisition experiments across media sources. The idea is to do incremental testing. Turn off media sources, and turn on just the one you want to test. Once a media source performs well, turn on an additional one.

It’s all done from one platform, so you don’t need to learn every channel’s own dashboard from scratch each time. This makes it easier to focus on performance, and you gradually optimize the unique channel combination that works for your specific app.

A Post IDFA Ecosystem is an Opportunity for Growth

As Apple ATT changes privacy reaches and advertisers adjust to a post IDFA ecosystem, it makes perfect sense to feel overwhelmed and take some time to process the changes. Yet it’s equally important to remember this isn’t the end of the game, nor is it the change that will stand in your way of user acquisition and app growth.

First, this change only impacts iOS 14+ user targeting – a large audience, no doubt, yet not the only audience around. The rest of the world continues as usual, at least for now.

As hard as it is, it’s an opportunity to venture out of your comfort zone and test out other platforms and media sources. DSPs give you access to data, larger and newer audiences, plus the ability to cook up your own unique mix of optimized user acquisition channels.

As you’ve witnessed, the only constant in our industry is change. But if you start now, next time there’ll be a big change like this, you’ll be prepared. Maybe you’ll even be ahead of the game.

The online advertising space is a near-constant state of flux. Trends and technologies that govern the way advertisements are delivered, tracked and measured come and go according to fast-changing government regulations and the whims of the big, corporate ecosystem players like Amazon, Apple and Google. 

One such technological trend is the Demand Side Platform (DSP). These fully automated platforms connect between advertisers and publishers, leveraging algorithm-driven programmatic advertising to streamline the process of buying and selling ads via real-time bidding (RTB). 

DSPs take the pain out of digital advertising by automating the ad-buying decision-making process. DSPs leverage complex algorithms to calculate the bid amount for an impression at the precise time it becomes available on a publisher’s site. With DSPs, even small operations can launch high-impact digital ad campaigns across different geos and platforms (mobile, display, search and video) at scale.   

Programmatic Fraud and DSPs

While there’s no arguing with the fact that DSPs simplify the work of digital advertisers, recent years have seen their popularity fall because of concerns regarding fraud and brand safety. Allegations of non-human traffic (bots) to boost impressions, impression laundering and domain masking coupled with a total lack of transparency into advertising metrics caused many advertisers to lose trust in the smaller DSPs. Brand safety is also a cause for concern with more and more reported instances of ads being displayed on extremist websites, and other websites that brands don’t want to associate with.

• According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), advertisers saw $7.2 billion lost to bots in 2016. 
• Imperva, a leading security firm, claimed that 29% of all web traffic in 2016 originated from harmful bots.
• Research from Digital Place-Based Association shows that brand safety is a major issue for 76% of agency planners. 

Finally, Safe, Transparent and Cost-effective DSP from Zoomd

With so much fraud and brand safety concerns revolving around DSPs, it was obvious that our clients deserved more. That’s why we made the development of a truly transparent, cost-effective DSP a priority. Zoomd is proud to launch our very own, in-house DSP that delivers full transparency and ensures brand safety for our clients. 

Leveraging a deep understanding of our clients’ needs and the advertising market, Zoomd DSP delivers transparency on both the media source and the media cost. Our self-service platforms gives advertisers the ability to easily manage their own UA campaigns, at scale while delivering industry-leading ROAS and full transparency into tracking metrics. With Zoomd DSP, advertisers can rest assured that their ads are viewed by their targeted audiences and that they’re displayed on reputable, brand-safe publisher websites.

Next Generation Mobile DSP – DSP for Mobile Acquisition

Zoomd DSP eliminates fraud and optimizes performance with value-driven, CPI/CPA-optimized campaigns that ensure maximum ROAS, with no hidden fees or surprise endings. Leverage data-driven media buying to launch KPI-focused campaigns targeting custom audiences based on your existing user data. 

• Full transparency– Zoomd DSP eliminates fraud and prioritizes brand safety with full transparency into media sources and media costs. Advertisers benefit from detailed tracking reports via a centralized interface that connects them with multiple, highly vetted, safelisted ad exchanges. 
• Complete control– Our self-service platform offers advertisers total control over their UA campaigns by enabling them to easily and simply manage their advertising efforts by themselves.
• High performance– Quickly and easily set up A/B tests that identify your top-performing creatives, without adding significant costs to your budget so that you launch user acquisition campaigns targeting top-performing lookalike audiences in any geo you choose. 
• Anywhere, anytime– Zoomd DSP connects to leading ad exchanges capable of reaching every impression in the world. Define your geo-targeting parameters and watch the downloads come in from every corner of the globe.

Parting Shots
Zoomd DSP offers advertisers a safe, transparent programmatic platform that delivers maximum performance without having to worry about fraud or brand safety. Advertisers unlock greater value and benefit from more control with a fully automated, self-service platform that delivers a robust arsenal of advanced advertising tools. Leverage A/B testing, custom audiences, global reach and safelisted ad exchanges to finally achieve your full reach and potential.