Fitness company Peloton recently held an earnings call with analysts and mentioned that Apple’s privacy features with iOS have negatively affected its ad revenue (via Bloomberg).
Privacy and Advertising
On Monday a report surfaced that showed how App Tracking Transparency affected social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Snap. Now Peloton says it too has been impacted, although didn’t share by how much.
Revenue rose 6% to $805.2 million last quarter. That was just above Peloton’s $800 million forecast, but below the roughly $809 million anticipated by analysts. The company posted a net loss of $1.25 a share.
The slim growth came from a 94% increase in revenue from subscriptions, which totaled $304.1 million. Hardware sales fell 17% to $501 million in the first quarter.
Introduced in iOS 14.5, App Tracking Transparency forces an app to display a dialog box when the developer wants to collect your data. People can choose Allow or Don’t Allow. The toggle, found in Settings > Privacy > Tracking, is turned off by default. When it’s turned off the app can’t ask and can’t track you.
Apple gives people a choice with App Tracking Transparency, and the feature is enabled by default. It’s telling how these companies try to paint “user choice” as negative. The message is clear: People don’t want to be tracked.
Andrew:
Consumers should be wary of the tears and lamentations of competitive industry and those who gain from so-called ‘surveillance capitalism’ at whatever scale; lest they be played into sacrificing their privacy, a core feature of personal freedom and self-determination, on the alter of corporate profit.
Companies should stop whining about not being able to ad-track and get on with the business of competing for our business. We benefit from intense competition; whether as consumers through better products, or as a society through innovation.
This capacity for personalised ad tracking is relatively new, and the consumer was never consulted or consented to be its mark. Analysts and the market need to be smarter than to uncritically accept such an excuse without evidence.
The other thing is, given the existence of Apple’s ad tracking consent feature is that it provides a ready, even if questionable, excuse for any company’s less than stellar quarterly performance.
Competitive companies with compelling ideas and products will always find ways of reaching people actively seeking to improve their lives.