Sep 1st 2020
Introduction to iOS 14: How This Affects Publishers
Apple’s rollout of iOS 14 and their planned privacy changes early next year will bring significant changes to the Ad Tech industry. In our first blog post in this 4-part series, we addressed how iOS 14 will affect advertisers. Next, we turn to the ways these changes will affect publishers and how Vungle is preparing for this transition. In particular, we highlight the necessary steps to ensure all of our publishers are ready for these changes.
How does SKAdNetwork affect publishers?
For publishers to access the maximum amount of available demand and to maximize their yield, they will need to ensure advertisers using SKAdNetwork — Apple’s potential primary attribution solution starting early next year — can buy their ad inventory. For publishers, this requires two simple steps:
- Updating network SDKs
- Updating the app info.plist.
Each network SDK will need to have the ability to provide a unique signature to Apple to accurately validate the install. Next, the publisher will need to update and include all the SKAdNetwork IDs in the info.plist before app submission. These two steps will ensure SKAdNetwork transactions can take place.
Vungle doesn’t suspect advertisers will suddenly transition to SKAdNetwork at the time of the privacy change, but publishers should be prepared to make their inventory available for advertisers who choose to transition. In short, more demand competition leads to increased yield performance for publishers.
Vungle’s iOS 14 Readiness
Our upcoming announcement of Vungle’s SDK 6.8 for iOS 14 will introduce support for SKAdNetwork, iOS14 compatibility, and general improvements to stability. In addition, all of our earlier SDKs have been tested against iOS 14 and prove to be stable with no major issues reported. However, we still recommend updating to Vungle SDK 6.8 for the best performance and end-user experience.
For advertisers to use SKAdNetwork on Vungle’s publisher inventory, publishers must complete these three steps:
Step 1: SDK 6.8
Integrate the Vungle SDK 6.8 for iOS 14.
Step 2: Update info.plist
Remember to update your info.plist to include all the SKAdNetwork IDs. We have listed our SKAdNetwork IDs on our help center and will continuously update that page. For help configuring the info.plist, please refer to Apple’s documentation.
Step 3: AppTrackingTransparency Framework
iOS 14 will bring additional privacy controls in early 2021. Apps will have to receive permission from users to access the IDFA through the AppTrackingTransparency framework. Remember to implement this framework and ask for permission to track the user for advertising purposes. Be sure to include the NSUserTrackingUsageDescription with a custom message explaining the purpose of the tracking data; for example, “To ensure the best possible ad experience.”
Completing these three simple steps ensures your app will have access to all the possible demand resulting in the highest possible yield. Vungle is dedicated to serving all of our app developers and we take great pride in providing quality ad experiences for your users.
See our other blogs in this series:
