According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the affiliate marketing industry will be worth $15.7 billion in 2024, an increase of $1.4 billion from last year alone.
Affiliate publishers must adapt to ever-changing privacy features to evolve their programs. An important feature is Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP).
There is a lot of information out there about ITP, which can be confusing. This blog boils down to the essentials. Keep reading to learn more about ITP and why it’s important for affiliate publishers in 2024.
Influencer Marketing Hub details affiliate marketing spend globally and in the US in its benchmark report.
Key takeaways from this blog
- Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) is Apple’s privacy solution that only affects Safari browsers.
- ITP deletes first-party cookies after seven days and third-party cookies after 24 hours.
- A website generates first-party cookies to remember browsing preferences, while third-party cookies are usually used for tracking purposes.
- ITP can decrease the effectiveness of ads, hinder tracking, and potentially decrease affiliate revenue.
- Using first-party cookies is a good alternative, while the most scalable is to use server-to-server APIs that eliminate cookies and completely bypass browser restrictions like ITP.
What is ITP?
ITP stands for Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) and is Apple’s privacy solution to prevent invasive advertising campaigns.
According to Apple, ITP “uses on-device machine learning to block cross-site tracking, while allowing websites to function normally.”
If this is an Apple initiative, does that mean it’s only on Apple platforms?
Yes, ITP only affects Safari browsers. While almost 66% of people use Google Chrome worldwide, Safari is the second most popular web browser, with almost 20% market share.
Even though Chrome dominates the market share, Safari still has a significant share according to StatCounter.
What is the difference between first-party cookies and third-party cookies?
Proprietary cookies are generated and stored by the website visited by the user. They help remember preferences and improve the browsing experience.
Third-party cookies are created by websites other than those visited, usually for advertising or tracking purposes.
How does the PTI work?
ITP targets first-party cookies and third-party cookies by automatically deleting them after a certain period of time.
First-party cookies are deleted after seven days, while third-party cookies are deleted after 24 hours.
Before the introduction of ITP, businesses could set cookie expiration limits as they wished, with 90 days being a common choice.
How does ITP impact affiliate publishers?
ITP limits the lifespan of third-party cookies to 24 hours, making it more difficult for advertisers to track and target users over time. This can reduce the effectiveness of advertisements and potentially lead to lower revenue for affiliates.
Secondly, ITP blocks cross-site trackingwhich means that if users visit multiple websites using different domains, their browsing activity will not be linked. This makes it difficult for affiliates to accurately track conversions and attribute them to the correct source.
With the shorter lifespan of third-party cookies, there is a greater chance that clicks on affiliate links may not be properly recorded or attributed. This can cause discrepancies in reporting and potentially impact an affiliate’s revenue.
What else should I know about ITP?
From a publisher’s perspective, if an affiliate network uses third-party cookies to track a referred user from a publisher site to an advertiser site, the user will need to convert within 24 hours. Otherwise, the publisher credit will be lost because Safari will delete the third-party cookie.
What can publishers do to compensate for the loss of credit?
One solution is to use first-party cookies to track publisher affiliate traffic. If the cookies on an advertiser’s site are first-party cookies, this creates a seven-day window during which the user can convert and the publisher can get a credit.
A combination of impact.com’s Universal Tracking Tag (UTT) solution and a dedicated tracking environment generates first-party cookies with a seven-day window. Learn more about UTTs here.
Are first-party cookies the only solution?
There are several solutions when using the code.
The ideal solution is to use application programming interfaces (APIs). These are direct connections between the advertiser’s server and the impact.com platform. Server-to-server solutions like this eliminate dependency on the user’s browser and avoid cookies altogether.
But you should know that there are several ways to implement this solution and that they are not all equal. Some development work is required on the advertiser’s part, especially for large advertisers with complex multi-brand sites.
So server-to-server solves a lot of problems?
If done right, it solves all problems.
However, as mentioned earlier, this requires more development resources from the advertiser, and the advertiser’s senior technicians must be involved.
As browser tracking evolves and cookies become less effective, server-to-server solutions emerge as the most scalable option. They do not depend on the user’s browser and avoid problems related to cookie restrictions.
So, is this just an Apple Safari issue?
ITP is an Apple initiative. However, Chrome and other browsers limit all cookies and tracking capabilities to improve end-user privacy.
impact.com continues to pay close attention and communicate with key players in the browser world to ensure our solutions remain the most effective on the market.
Affiliated publishers can benefit significantly by staying informed of evolving privacy regulations.
Although first-party and server-to-server cookies are excellent solutions for ITP, the laws can change at any time. Affiliate publishers must stay up to date with the latest changes and adapt their strategy to comply with regulations without hindering their business.
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