How YouTube Sidestepped Woes Over Apple's Privacy Changes – The Hollywood Reporter

When Snap, the first major tech giant out of the gate with third-quarter earnings, revealed Oct. 21 an overall miss caused by Apple’s iOS privacy changes, shares tumbled 20 percent as analysts watched carefully to see whether the dent to targeted advertising would become a trend. For the most part, it has. Days later, Facebook (now officially rebranded as Meta) missed revenue expectations and offered modest projections for its fourth-quarter performance “in light of continued headwinds from Apple’s iOS 14 changes.” Released in April, Apple’s privacy change requires apps to receive user permission to track their behavior across other apps and websites. If the user opts out, the company can no longer track customers’ data within their own app using Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers system. Twitter, led by mogul Jack Dorsey, also fell below Wall Street forecasts, and executives cited an ad slowdown due to Apple’s changes, though ad revenue itself was up 40 percent year-over-year. YouTube’s ad revenue also narrowly missed expectations, and Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat noted a “modest impact on YouTube revenues” due to the iOS changes during a call with analysts. But of the four ad-driven tech companies, Alphabet — parent company of Google and YouTube…
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