Bidalgo: Apple pushing iOS 14.5 adoption slower than previous releases

Bidalgo, a mobile app marketing automation platform, says Apple seems to be pushing iOS 14.5 adoption slower than previous releases. The budgets marketers are managing to spend on campaigns which require iOS 14.4 and below indicate that the vast majority of iOS users haven’t been prompted to update their devices. Recent data from Branch Metrics seemingly confirms this.

Look for a bigger push for iOS 14.6

“Even if most users are still on iOS 14.4 and below, it’s obvious that Apple is not going to hold off much longer,” Alon Tvina, chief revenue officer, Bidalgo, says. “In fact, as the recently released iOS 14.6 is another feature-heavy update, which adds features such as podcast subscriptions and hi-res sound support, it makes sense to assume that it will be pushed to users much more quickly.”

iOS 14.5 trends since late April

Bidalgo has seen these trends see since the release of IOS 14.5 in late April: 

• In the past two months, Android increased its budget allocation lead over iOS by 11 points. Android users are suddenly more lucrative, due to the unrestricted targeting ability on Google’s mobile OS. This, in turn, spurs many marketers to increase Android budgets, leading to costs-per-impression (CPM) increase. CPM is the measured of cost that one will pay when their ad is shown per one thousand impressions. Specifically:
  • On Snapchat, 60% of apps increased their Android budgets and 67% of apps saw CPM increases.
  • On Facebook, 40% of apps increased Android budgets and 30% saw CPM increases.
  • On Google, 34% of apps increased Android budgets and 59% saw CPM increases.
• Meanwhile, iOS CPMs are dropping, as was expected with less precise targeting and lower CTRs.
  • On Facebook, 64% of apps saw CPM decreases.
  • On Google, 61% of apps saw CPM decreases.
  • On Tiktok, 72% of apps saw CPM decreases.
• When looking at the budget allocation between publishers, Facebook remains the undisputed leader on iOS, followed by Apple and Google. That said, ever since the launch of iOS 14.5 we’re witnessing a growth trend in budget allocation to ad networks, up 6 points since the beginning of March. Apple Search Ads is another winner, with an increase of 4 points in the budget allocation mix. 
• That said, Bidalgo doesn’t see anything that would indicate meaningful changes in overall marketing budget allocations. The seasonal week-to-week budget trends are similar to those of previous years (except for 2020, which was an outlier year).

• The majority of Bidalgo clients see click-through rate (CTR) decreases on iOS as they begin to enter the post-IDFA world, either organically or through proactive testing. CTR is the ratio of the number of clicks on a specific link or call to action to the number of times people were exposed to the link
  • On Facebook, 65% of apps had CTR decreases.
  • On Google, 44% of apps had CTR decreases.
  • On TikTok, 47% of apps had CTR decreases.
• Facebook advertisers are experimenting more with country targeting. The company is likely chasing iOS 14.4 audiences that can still be targeted more easily. Most of the Facebook increases are in targeting outside of the US, both in single country targeting and in country bundles.