An update to Apple’s iOS operating system has resulted in The Trade Desk unable to serve ads to Safari users.
The Trade Desk is unable to serve ads within the Safari browser for Apple users who have downloaded the latest operating system, iOS 27.
Apple is currently investigating the issue, but has not yet released a timeline of when or how this might be resolved.
Affiliate Leaders reached out to both The Trade Desk and Apple for comment, but at the time of publication, neither had responded to the request.
Apple has maintained a policy of blocking data broker domains, which carry out addressable ID matching and facilitate tracking across sites.
The iphone-maker expanded this list by adding other tracking services to its block list, including The Trade Desk-backed Unified ID 2.0 programme (which uses the domain UIDAPI.com), ID5, Audigent, LiveRamp and Permutive.
More domains, including The Trade Desk’s adsrvr.org, are also on the list, which is the adtech’s domain for third-party cookies.
Dan Gee, co-founder and chief strategy officer at MFM, an independent media agency, explained that Apple has been coming for precise targeting for ads for years, and that advertising is not a logistics problem, and it isn’t about “endlessly tweaking and tuning the narrowest bit of pipe”.
He continued: “The real growth engine for most businesses sits elsewhere: broader reach, creative and media working in sync, better understanding of the value of context, all leading to more people thinking of you when the buying moment arrives.
“In that sense, Apple may be forcing a useful correction. Less reliance on identity, less obsession with audience slicing, and more pressure to prove what actually drives incremental growth.”
In terms of what comes next, Gee said the industry needs to be careful not to replace precision targeting with a new system built around “opaque platform rules, inaccessible measurement and limited visibility”.
Less precise targeting
Advertising is becoming less precise, and brands are having to adjust to having more broad audiences, meaning marketers need to think about how their message cuts through.
Sam Bradshaw, head of media at AgencyUK said: “One of the biggest opportunities is to bring media and creative much closer together. If platforms have less data to work with, then the quality of the creative, the strength of the message and having a clear understanding of your audience become even more important.
“Brands should also build stronger first-party relationships with their customers. Better data, better creative and better measurement create a much more resilient marketing approach than trying to find the next technical workaround. Regardless of further IOS updates, those fundamentals will stay the same.”
While Apple is reportedly working toward a solution for TTD’s issue with serving ads, marketers may have to adjust to a new normal, with much less precise targeting than they have become accustomed to.
