Snapchat warns iOS 14 changes could impact advertiser demand

Snapchat on iPhone
Snapchat on iPhone (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Snapchat's parent company has warned iOS 14 privacy changes could impact its advertising demand.

Snapchat has warned that iOS 14 privacy changes could impact its advertising business.

As reported by Reuters:

Snap Inc, owner of popular photo-messaging app Snapchat, on Thursday warned that upcoming privacy changes by Apple Inc could hurt Snap's ad business although user growth and revenue beat analysts' fourth-quarter estimates.

According to the report, Snap said the upcoming changes "could present a 'risk' to advertiser demand" but that it was unclear how it might impact its business in the long run. Shares for Snap fell 75 in post-market trading following the comments.

One ad agency expert told Reuters that "The disruption to ad targeting caused by the iOS 14 privacy changes will clearly be a worry for Snap, which has been steadily growing its armory of ad formats and advertisers."

Unlike Facebook, Snap CBO Jeremi Gorman said the company admired Apple and thought it was "trying to do the right thing for customers". Snap further noted it was ready to help advertisers navigate the changes.

Facebook has publicly and vocally decried the changes, claiming they will impact its advertising business and the smaller firms that use them. Last week Apple confirmed that planned App Tracking Transparency changes will be a requirement from the next beta of iOS 14, released to developers earlier this week. It means that going forward, app developers will have to ask users to opt-in if they want to be tracked using an IDFA identifier across multiple services, a feature used primarily to target advertising. A recent Harvard Business Review study claims numbers used in a Facebook campaign against the changes were misleading.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9