The App-ocalypse: 65% of app developers have lost revenue due to new ad regulations

Continuing changes to privacy and ad regulations force app developers to rethink user acquisition strategies

The App-ocalypse’, the new report from Bango reveals that app developers are experiencing a negative impact to their bottom line due to new ad regulations and privacy changes.

The research revealed that over half of app developers have lost revenue since Apple’s IDFA changes, the phasing out of third party cookies by Google, new privacy updates, and changing ad regulations.

The report argues that the four horsemen of the App-ocalypse – the phasing out of Cookies, iOS IDFA changes, mounting government regulation, and privacy-conscious consumers – are changing the face of app marketing forever.

The research, which surveyed over 300 app developers and app marketers, found that 65% of app developers are concerned about the implications Google’s removal of third-party cookies will have on their user acquisition strategy, with 31% being very concerned. 61% of app developers have also reported that they have lost sleep because of the new changes.

The Bango report also discusses the iOS IDFA privacy changes already in effect – which allow users to opt out of being tracked. Although the updates have complicated user acquisition strategies, app developers do understand the need for privacy. In fact, 68% agree that user privacy is a top priority for their company in 2022.

Nevertheless, concerns about how to acquire new users are still rife, with 61% of app developers agreeing that they’re having to rethink their user acquisition strategy. 66% are actively looking for new ways to target paying users without IDFA, cookies or data privacy issues.

The Bango report, authored by Anil Malhotra, CMO, and Brett Orlanski, SVP Bango Audiences, argues that in a new privacy-conscious world the only way to reach new paying app users is to re-think strategy and adopt purchase behavior targeting. As Anil Malhotra, co-author of the report explains:

“Traditional audience targeting might have worked once upon a time but new changes and regulations have made – at least from the point of view of app developers – users unreachable, and unattainable, like zombies that they desperately need to bring back to life. In this new world, app developers are having to rethink their user acquisition strategies or risk falling victim to the App-ocalypse”

“App developers need a new solution, one that complies with privacy regulations and yields a high return on their marketing investment. Rather than wasting time and money targeting users that will not pay, Bango Audiences is cookie-less ad targeting tech. It doesn’t rely on search based targeting, demographic profiling or plain guesswork. It analyses the purchase data processed by the Bango Payment Platform across the major app stores to build custom audiences of users who are most likely to pay – based on what they’ve purchased before. With these custom audiences you can reach new paying users you couldn’t otherwise find and turn disconnected “zombies” back into paying customers.”