Spotlight
How is the SKAdNetwork 4.0 rollout going?
The bad news is that so far, there's no live SKAdNetwork 4.0 traffic flowing through the pipes. But the good news is that at least your MMP most likely isn't going to be the blocker:
- Singular: new SDK is available; other updates coming soon.
- Adjust: new SDK is ready; other updates expected in early 2023.
- Branch: updated SDK, dashboard reports, and configuration tools are all ready to go.
- AppsFlyer: no announcements yet.
- Kochava: no announcements yet.
If you're excited about the potential of SKAN 4.0, now is the time to go tell your ad network partners that support is important!
Interesting Reads
Is Google Getting Worse?
The always-excellent Freakonomics Radio explores this question. While things start out sounding rather anti-Google (it is a mass-media podcast, after all), the conclusions become a lot more nuanced as the episode continues.
In interesting related news: last week, for the first time, Google published a comprehensive list of all the systems that feed into search ranking decisions.
How Spotify’s Wrapped campaign for 2022 came together
Spotify Wrapped: arguably the most reliably viral marketing campaign of our age (honestly, if you haven't come across at least one Wrapped share this week, are you even in mobile growth?)
Here's a neat look at the design work involved in grabbing the world’s attention.
Lose-Lose
Thesis of the article: AppTrackingTransparency reduced the quality (and therefore the profitability) of digital advertising, ad networks increased the quantity of ads to compensate, and now everyone — including most end users — is more annoyed and worse off than before.
I find this thesis convincing. But it is not antithetical to also believe that improved user privacy protections are a net good in the world.
Industry Buzz
Google's Privacy Sandbox is coming to Android
Google has been trying to build momentum for this all year, but I get the sense that most people still aren't taking it seriously yet.
You should. This is our opportunity to make sure Android doesn't suffer the same lose-lose outcome described in the article immediately above.
Walled Gardens
A new deluge of attention on the App Store Tax
Readers of this newsletter will already be very familiar with the ongoing saga of app store commision rates. But that's not the case for the general public, and this week brought a new round of high-profile piling on, all via Twitter within the space of about 72 hours:
"Did you know Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store?" — Elon Musk
"Four years ago, we filed a complaint detailing @Apple’s anticompetitive practices […] So how much longer will we look away from this threat to the future of the internet? How many more consumers will be denied choice? There’s been a lot of talk. Talk is helpful but we need action." — Daniel Ek
"You might have noticed you can't send NFTs on Coinbase Wallet iOS anymore. This is because Apple blocked our last app release until we disabled the feature." — Coinbase
"If they can lawfully add a 30% Apple Tax to all NFT transactions, then they can lawfully add a 30% Apple Tax to all online banking and stock trading transactions. The App Store monopoly is seizing control of the American economy. Apple must be stopped!" — Tim Sweeney
Of course, most of this isn't just specific to just iOS — Apple is just a higher-profile target than Google for this topic. And while none of these tweets will be enough to make Apple reconsider anything, they've certainly raised the stakes even further.
Privacy & Security
Apple Sends DSID With iPhone Analytics Data, Tests Show
We all know Apple has decided to build a brand around privacy. We also know 'privacy' means different things to different people, and the definition Apple uses is relatively nuanced in ways that your typical consumer is unlikely to understand.
Here we have an example of how that makes it difficult for Apple to do even standard product analytics without twisting themselves into messaging knots. In this case, I’m sure everything Apple says is technically true…but that won’t be a defense in the court of public opinion.
App Tracking Protection Beta Now Open to All Android Users
Speaking of privacy and definitions, here's another example of how things can go off the rails.
DuckDuckGo has been testing their VPN-based App Tracking Protection solution on Android since last year, and now it's available to everyone.
The issue is that the reports from this feature are being taken as fact, when they're actually just programmatically-generated heuristics.
In other words, this is bad, misleading data, but DuckDuckGo hasn't provided any way for anyone to provide corrections.
Apple iCloud's Private Relay Enables $65M Ad Fraud Scam
A new study finds Apple's iCloud Private Relay is being exploited for a massive ad fraud scam despite promises of "built-in fraud protection."
This is coming from a vendor selling ad fraud protection, so it should probably be taken with a grain of salt…but the attack vector makes sense to me as described. Maybe this is part of why iCloud Private Relay is still in beta, after almost a year and a half…
Tips & Techniques
App store screenshots: Our best optimization tips
Here's a useful recap of best practices for app store screenshots (I had no idea only 9% of users scroll through them!)
Data
2022 Holiday Shopping Trends & Insights Report
Lots of interesting stats, including that mobile is responsible for 44% of overall revenue.
The Encore
Podcast
Leading a Winning Digital Transformation Strategy in the Banking Sector
Experience Transformation Leader at Citizens Bank: Deepak Nair
In this episode of How I Grew This, Deepak Nair joins Mada Seghete to discuss how banks can drive digital transformation and innovation strategies and deliver a best-in-class digital experience to customers.
Deepak is the Experience Transformation Leader at Citizens Bank and is responsible for managing enterprise transformation journeys that produce exceptional customer experience while reducing operational costs. He has twenty-plus years of experience in digital, marketing, CX, communications, and analytics and has been nominated for being one of the most influential industry contributors by the San Francisco Charter of Digital Analytics Association.
Who’s Hiring?
- Uber | Performance Marketing Manager, Global Lifecycle Marketing — San Francisco, CA
- Babbel | Growth Lead, Babbel Live — New York, NY
- hims & hers | Senior CRM Manager — Remote (US)
Do you have a mobile growth role you’d like to share with the community?
Just fill out this form — it’s free!
OpenAI released their new ChatGPT chatbot this week, and there are a lot of impressive examples floating around already.
I'm still thinking through practical tie-ins to mobile app growth (though I highly recommend trying the prompt
write a love song to SKAdNetwork 4.0), but generative AI is clearly paradigm-shifting technology. If you have ideas, hit reply — I'd love to hear them!Back in more mobile-related topics, can you spare 10 minutes to help our team with the 2022 Mobile Growth survey? We're looking to answer questions like:
Once you fill it out, you'll be among the first to get the report and we'll send you a gift from the Branch team!
Alex Bauer