Updated on April 26, 2021: On Tuesday, April 27, 2021 Facebook will begin rolling out new ad measurement protocols --Apple’s SKAdNetwork API and Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement -- following the release of iOS 14.5. Advertisers and partners will then begin to experience the changes described in this blog post. For the latest update visit the Facebook for Business blog.
Updated on April 21, 2021: On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, Apple confirmed that the release of general availability of iOS 14.5 will begin next week, and that it will start requiring apps in the App Store to obtain permission to “track” users across apps and websites owned by third parties for advertising and measurement purposes through it’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt. Apple’s prompt requirement will also prohibit certain data collection and sharing by businesses unless people opt in. As part of these changes, we’re implementing new ad measurement protocols, including Apple’s SKAdNetwork API and Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement and the changes described in this blog post will begin rolling out with the expected general availability of iOS 14.5 next week. We will provide an update with a specific date once more details are available from Apple. For the latest update, visit the Facebook for Business blog.
Today, January 19, we are providing an update to our earlier guidance to prepare you for the changes created by Apple’s iOS 14 requirements. We’re launching new experiences in our advertising tools that will guide you through some of these changes, including some of the actions you will soon be able to take. While Apple has still not made it clear to the industry when they will enforce their AppTransparencyTracking prompt, we are taking advance steps to help prepare you and reduce disruption to your advertising and integrations across Facebook apps.
Please note if you use the Ads Insights API, there will be an immediate change to measurement beginning today. Please see details below.
We will launch Resource Center, a dedicated tab in Ads Manager with a customized checklist of tasks to guide advertisers through specific actions to ensure your advertising is set up optimally and prepare for the upcoming impact of iOS 14 requirements.
The Resource Center will provide a list of relevant updates summarizing how iOS 14 requirements may impact your specific ad account. Most tasks and updates will link to Help Center articles to further support you through these changes.
Beginning today, advertisers will be able to view all their events through new tabs in Events Manager, “Pixel/Conversions API” and “Aggregated Event Measurement.” The Aggregated Event Measurement tab will provide information on web events processed using Aggregated Event Measurement. Pixel/Conversions API tab Full data events includes all other web events that are not limited by Aggregated Event Measurement. Initially, the Aggregated Event Measurement tab will include events autoconfigured for the accounts domains based on an accounts ad activity.
Advertisers will be able to edit and prioritize the automatically configured events for a given domain in a new event configuration tool in Events Manager.
Below you will find previous guidance and additional details provided for Aggregated Event Measurement and Event Limits.
Aggregated Event Measurement: Facebook will introduce Aggregated Event Measurement to support measurement of web events from iOS 14 users once Apple requires the ATT prompt. It is designed to help you measure campaign performance in a way that is consistent with consumers’ decisions about their data.
Event Limits: You will be limited to the use of 8 conversion events per domain (i.e., 8 <pixel, event> or <custom conversion> per domain) for campaign optimization. You will not need to make changes to the pixel or your Conversions API implementation as event selection will be done in Events Manager.
Domain verification in Business Manager: We recommend that all advertisers verify their domain using the steps outlined in the Facebook Help Center. However, if a domain has pixel events owned by multiple Business Managers or ad accounts, one Business Manager is required to verify the domain in order to edit the event configuration.
Note: Domain Verification must be done at the effective top level domain plus one (eTLD+1 ). For example, for www.books.jasper.com, books.jasper.com and jasper.com the eTLD+1 domain is jasper.com.
Plan for 8 conversion events per domain: If you use more than 8 conversion events per domain for optimization prepare an action plan for how to operate with 8 conversion events per domain based on your business priorities. You will not need to make changes to the pixel or Conversions API implementation as event configuration will be done in Events Manager.
There are no specific changes for Dynamic Ads for Retargeting, but you may see performance and audience sizes decrease. We expect minimal impact to you using Dynamic Ads to reach Broad Audiences.
The changes outlined below will be going into effect January 19, 2021.
For automated rules: In early 2021, attribution window settings for existing and newly created automated rules will no longer be supported, and a default window of 7-day click-through for non-iOS conversions and the SKAdNetwork window for iOS conversions will be implemented.
Actions to take now Specify attribution window changes (deprecation of 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through windows):
Please review the most recent guidance published here.
For information on iOS 14 impact to App based developers please see our separate Developer blog post here.
For information on how to plan for changes to our Marketing & Ads Insights API, please see our blog post here.