ATT two years on: Opt-in rates keep climbing

User- and data-privacy are now synonymous with the mobile marketing ecosystem. App developers and advertisers are increasingly investing in measurement and attribution tools that enable campaign optimization—on SKAdNetwork (SKAN) and beyond—via aggregated data sources and leveraging of predictive analytics.

That being said, consented first-party data is as powerful for precision attribution as it is for helping to inform the predictive methods of optimization on the other side of the coin. And the good news is that over the course of the previous (just over) two years, we’ve seen App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in rates consistently climbing. A combination of increased user knowledge and understanding around device ID sharing and improved onboarding experiences and UX are the driving forces behind this upward curve.

Let’s take a look at the current ATT opt-in rates across countries and app verticals, according to Adjust data.

Different app verticals and categories have different user acquisition models, varied methods of monetization, and put simply—different types of users. This means the way a user interacts with an app and what their expectations are is incredibly varied. Some verticals come with a higher awareness of personalized advertising, others have very long onboarding processes that prioritize explaining the opt-in prompt, and some have a user base that is simply less likely to opt-in.

Looking at the ATT opt-in rates for Q2 2023, we see that, as usual, gaming has the highest rate, which has climbed to an impressive average of 37%. Interestingly, food & drink has skyrocketed up to the second position, sitting at 36%. Both of these are above the industry-wide average, which is 34%—up from 29% the last time we checked in. Next is e-commerce, which is on par with the industry average of 34%, followed by fintech (29%), social (26%), and travel and entertainment (both 25%).

Educational has the lowest accepted rate, at 7%, largely due to the important privacy restrictions and stringent regulations around data collection from minors, protected under COPPA and GDPR, compliance standards Adjust is fully committed to.

Turning to the country breakdown, we also note significant differences by market. The UAE has the highest opt-in rate currently, having reached 49.6%. Next is Brazil at 47% and Vietnam at 45%. The lowest consent rate is seen in famously security-conscious Germany (20%), followed by Japan (22%), Australia and Canada (23%), and the U.S. and Italy (24%).

Developing a robust and fully-rounded strategy for campaign optimization on iOS is essential to scale and drive success on the platform now and moving forward. And with Google’s Privacy Sandbox on Android around the corner, shifting the mindset to building an attribution strategy focused on leveraging aggregated data for privacy-compliant, actionable insights on all campaigns is the direction savvy marketers are already taking.

A UX-optimized onboarding complete with a perfectly implemented prompt is a fantastic first step for any app advertising on iOS. Focus on explaining the value of opt-ing in and clarifying what it means in the first place. Always be completely transparent and upfront. The more users that choose to opt-in, the better.

In the data-privacy centric ecosystem, however, opted-in data should be seen as a bonus and strategies should focus on working with SKAN, mapping conversion values, and optimizing for predictive analytics. Learn about our iOS and SKAN solutions or get in touch with your Adjust contact person today for more information.