IDFA Opt-Outs Stay Level At 18%; Facebook Gives Pubs More Options For Monetizing Instant Articles

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The Patient Is Stable

When Apple debuted its iOS 10 software update a month ago, it let people opt out of the ID for Advertisers (IDFA) program, which enables targeted ads. Since then, the number of iOS users who choose to switch off their IDFA profile has remained flat at 18% globally, per a report from mobile marketing analytics firm Adjust. The US opt-out figure did rise somewhat, with 2 million users activating the Limit Ad Tracking feature in September. Read the report.

Facebook’s Publisher Hooks

Facebook has updated Instant Articles to help publishers generate more revenue from traffic growth and per-page monetization. The platform is rolling out larger and more flexible ad units, which will make it easier for publishers to bring direct-sold campaigns into Instant Articles as well as recycle previous campaigns that weren’t launched on the platform. Publishers who use Audience Network can now leverage video and carousel ad formats. Facebook will also increase ad load on Instant Articles. “We expect this will expand available ads inventory and improve overall yield for publishers, while maintaining a great reading experience for people,” said Harshit Agarwal, product manager for Instant Articles. More at VentureBeat.

Yuan, You’re On

The Chinese search giant Baidu, the country’s most-used search engine, announced a $3 billion investment fund focused on mid- to late-stage tech startups. Baidu is targeting investments between $50 million and $100 million, per a post on the company’s WeChat account. Chinese investment in US internet technology has stepped up considerably this year, surfacing lots of legitimate exits but also some uncertain capital [AdExchanger coverage]. But with Tencent, Alibaba and now Baidu all committed to hundreds of millions or billions in new funds, there’s a stable three-legged stool supporting ambitious Chinese investments. More at Reuters.

Calculating The Ad Tech Tax

In an experiment designed to size up the market for ad tech intermediaries, The Guardian purchased its own inventory programmatically. In the most extreme case, the publisher only receives 30% of an advertisers’ programmatic ad spend, with vendors taking a 70% cut, CRO Hamish Nicklin said on a panel at the Automated Trading Debate in London. He argues that VC-backed vendors are more interested in pushing a profit to secure funding than providing value to advertisers. “Building your brand and deep relationships with consumers, these things matter. But if we look at how we buy media in order to achieve that goal, purely through the lens of an audience-based, direct-response mechanic, we don’t achieve any value. We totally lose context.” More.

But Wait, There’s More!