What you need to know
- Companies are reporting a mixed impact from Apple's iOS 14 privacy changes.
- Last week Snapchat shares plunged because of a hit to earnings.
- This week Facebook, Alphabet, and Twitter have posted earnings and mixed responses to the change.
Following the news, last week that Snap had missed its earnings target because of iOS 14 privacy changes, Facebook, Alphabet (Google), and Twitter have posted their earnings with mixed signals regarding the impact of Apple's changes.
As noted by MarketWatch:
On Tuesday, both Alphabet and Twitter reported third-quarter results that managed to avoid significant hits to their revenue as a result of the changes that Apple AAPL, +0.46% made to its iPhone iOS that lets users opt-out of tracking by advertisers.
Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said iOS 14 changes had "a modest impact on YouTube revenues", which were $200 million shy of analyst estimates of $7.4 billion. Twitter told investors Tuesday that "It is still too early for Twitter to assess the long-term impact of Apple's privacy-related iOS changes, but the Q3 revenue impact was lower than expected, and we have incorporated an ongoing modest impact into our Q4 guidance."
By contrast, Facebook still reported positive earnings but has warned of "significant uncertainty" going into Q4 " in light of continued headwinds from Apple's iOS 14 changes, and macroeconomic and COVID-related factors."
Last week shares of Snapchat parent company Snap fell by 25% after it reported missing out on its earnings targets because of the iOS 14 changes, despite earning $1 billion in revenue for the first time ever. The changes, made by Apple earlier this year and carried over into iOS 15 and the iPhone 13, mean users must opt-in to being tracked using an IDFA number across numerous apps and services, significantly reducing the power of targeted advertising. Facebook has previously strongly warned against the move stating it would destroy small businesses that rely on advertising. Snap also reported that a reporting tool from Apple that accompanied the changes is not working as well as expected.
