Snap, Snapchat's parent, should be pleased to see this quarter's financial report. Its revenue penetrated USD 1 billion for the first time and has daily users reaching 13 million.
But they still have one problem that Apple has caused, and that's lost potential millions of dollars in revenue. Their revenue in Q3 2021 is $3 million less than their target, and according to Snap, the problem is mostly attributable to Apple.
"We're facing a change in the industry where ad targeting, optimization and measurement on iOS is causing a significant impact on our business that is bigger than anticipated," said Jeremi Gorman, Snap's Chief Business Officer.
What Snap is concerned about is a change in iOS that requires iOS device users to turn ad tracking on or off in apps or websites. As a result, the majority of users choose to turn off the tracking.
This makes it difficult for app makers and advertisers to monitor the effectiveness of their advertisements, what they look like, or whether they are successful in the purchase transaction.
Snap itself actually had hoped that these changes would not have a big impact. However, this latest financial report shows that the change has successfully disrupted Snap's advertising business, and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said Apple's alternative tools could not solve the problem.
They have been trying to develop alternative tools that advertisers can use, namely through a tool called 'Advanced Conversations'. However, this tool still takes time to be fully implemented.