Unpacking New Consent Rules on Mobile from Google: CMP, TCF

[Music] uh here is the your article on LinkedIn uh talking about that and you've shared this like interesting example from one of the apps from Voodoo mhm uh maybe you can explain to us what do they do here hey everyone this is Roman from tangent and today I'm joined by Bojo from game Beast Consulting Bo a few words about yourself yeah uh thanks Roman um so as you mentioned my name is B Yankovic uh I work as head of ad monetization at game Bas Consulting uh we're a consultancy firm uh primarily focusing on the video games industry um but also uh working with non um gaming mobile apps um we're a team based at the Bel Serbia um and we help um mobile um app Publishers with

all sorts of business challenges primarily my team and myself we're focusing on ad monetization um so we're helping uh mobile games and apps um increase their ad revenue and um ad Dow uh by improving their um their setups brilliant and today we'll try to understand the the new the abbreviations like CMP and some other abbreviations because there are like so many of them now and whenever I talk with the India developers they have no idea what it is and it's getting so complicated so we'll try to understand all of those new conent rules from Google um so maybe you can start by like explaining what has changed since uh January 16 uh 2024 MH absolutely so January 16 2024 uh

was the official deadline uh by which um Google said they will start enforcing um um TCF uh 2.2 requirements uh this means that U mobile apps uh that um are showing ads uh to their users in the European economic area and United Kingdom um regions uh in those areas um starting January 16th Google said they will require a TCF 2.2 compliant consent string for those users if the publisher uh wants to show Google ads to those users uh in these regions uh now unofficially even though the this deadline wasn't um postponed publicly um we do have uh some information that the deadline that the actual implementation of these requirements start started only

on 1st of February and then gradually um it will be rolled out um across the board by the end of this month so January 16th was the official deadline but nothing really changed in practice and then between 1st and 29th of February um Google will be enforcing this will start enforcing this gradually and by the end of the month this will be in full force which means that that if a mobile app is not um showing a CMP message and is not providing um a conent string to Google uh they will not be able to show um uh show Google uh ads in these regions got it okay you you already answered one of my questions I was just going to say I haven't seen any uh drop down in the ecpm for Google in European countries so it actually makes a lot of sense

so we'll keep monitoring what happens after abolutely um can you quickly again like I already heard two abbreviation uh CMP okay this one I already know but maybe you can quickly explain and another one is also TCF is it correct one yes uh exactly so um uh CMP stands for a consent manag M platform uh and it's pretty much a tool uh that a developer can use uh to col collect consent from their users uh that will be valid that will be recognized by um Google and other U ad providers uh now TCF um is a trans is pretty much a um consent mechanism or a consent standard um which has been introduced by

International advertising Bureau or IAB another abbreviation but pretty much a TCF um is again this consent mechanism or consent standard which was introduced by this organization um and which um has some minimum requirements that need to be met in order for consent to be um considered valid under these terms H and it is pretty much a um attempt an attempt um to have um a standardized consent across the industry right and so what Google is saying you have to have this kind of consent um in order to to keep working with us in European regions and it can't be um a simple uh Boolean true or false value

okay uh it can't be simple yes or no value uh it has to be this string uh value uh which is a TCF um and so this is recognized by Google but also by many other um ad providers in the market uh and it's meant to uh in a way standardize and simplify how Publishers um who are in direct relations with with their own players and users how they're collecting that consent and how they're passing it on to um ad providers okay that's clear and uh if they don't do that then they can say goodbye to the ad revenue from Google admo from the users in the EU and UK right yes exactly uh okay this is clear but the the the seem P should do the all

of the heavy lifting now right uh yes and no so uh there are a couple of important aspects of the implementation um so uh what CMP actually does uh they are surfacing the message to users where they're asking users for consent right right and so the content of that message um How uh technically everything works uh that is uh you know a part of the service that you're getting from the CMP um however there are some things that still need to be done on uh on the developer side for example integration of the CMP has to be done on the developer side because um every CMP requires an SDK or software development kit to be integrated into the app into the code of the the app and this is something that only a developer

can do um so this is still a development effort and then apart from that you you as a developer or as a publisher still need to make some decisions for example which uh providers you will list in the CMP message um how are you going to handle other popups that you may have um in your app such as terms of service privacy policy on iOS devices at popups um and you know even when you're going to Sur surface this message um so even though uh CMP as a product as a service is delivering a lot of the things that need to be done uh technically especially around gener generating that uh TCF string uh there are many things that need to be considered on the publisher side as well right so even like from our side I've seen the in use cases uh one of

them is like whenever a user opt outs um developers do not initialize tangent SDK at all right or um another one is uh to pass the content uh this uh yes or no back to Google so they would know uh how to rec Target basically user uh just to say it seems like it's affecting everything it's not only the ad monetization which is like crucial um but other aspects of the yes and that's yeah you're completely right so uh apart from ad monetization uh which is partially affected and will be fully affected by the end of this month um we are um also going to see impact on user acquisition position um so all

Publishers doing uh specific types of Google campaigns that are relying on tracking users post install um they will also need to provide a consent in order for those users to be tracked after the install right and this is where the crucial data comes in in order to assess the the effectiveness of the campaign the profitability um so apart from ad monetization user acquisition is going to be effective as well in these regions and um if uh you choose to um to to list your analytics um Tools in in the CMP message and depending on on other settings of the CMP message such as whether or not you're relying on legitimate interest for certain purposes uh this is where um you know um the complexity kicks in like how are you going to handle other tools

apart from ad monetization um area and user acquisition area if depending on again whether the user actually gave consent or they didn't give consent or you're lying with a legitimate interest and so on so um it's not um you know all black and white it really depends on the implementation as well and uh from your experience have you already seen that the developers starting to treat uh the EU nonu users in a different way they're like different workflows that they fall or um so uh we haven't seen any um any changes in how uh for example ads their setup or anything in terms of how these users are being treated by the developers the only difference is that this uh CMP message uh since it's only required uh by Google

in these European regions then these messages are only surfaced to users from those regions um for example for users in the US or any other non European territory uh nothing has really changed so the flow um initially when you install the app has remained the same while in Europe um uh developers have changed that initial Flow by introducing the CMP message and potentially adjusting other messages that are usually part of this onboarding user experience um so other than that we haven't seen any changes as of yet okay um but let's take a step back I I hope that would be as easy as implementing the S&P but it's obviously not but it's a first step so I see two scenarios the first one let's start with the big guys they they have the legal department and they they have a plenty of resources

and I've seen already some of the studios introducing their own CPS and getting certified by Google um maybe your opinion on like is that the way to go for the big guys to go with your own CMP or the the advice here is to choose something from the list um I so in my personal experience um and the research I've done so far um I've only seen uh a couple of big Publishers who have developed their own cmps and got them certified U by Google um and you know if you're a big company have hundreds of employees um if um pretty much all of your revenues are coming from ads uh then you know you might want to have a full control um over the this um area of your business and you might

develop your own CMP um it's similar um I would say um as as when we're talking about ad um ad mediation platforms you know many developers um and actually most of developers are going to use um some of the the mediation platforms that are available in the market but then the big guys uh they want to they want to have better control uh and to know the product in detail and to be less dependent on third parties and they're going to develop their own mediation similarly with with the cmps I would say for vast majority of developers um it's not really viable um to create your own CMP because apart from from the fact that it's a big development effort you would need to certify it first by IAB and then by Google um and then you know regulations are changing all the time

which means that this wouldn't be a oneoff effort uh but you would constantly um need to monitor what's going on and make sure that you're on top of uh the latest uh requirements um so I would say that for 95% of developers maybe even more it doesn't make sense to build your own tool um especially like if you're a small team or if you're not making a lot of money uh on ads um it's really something that personally I would see as a distraction U rather and and I would see more negative sides of um going for your own CMP than uh than just choosing what's available in the market but again if you're among top grossing Publishers out there then um things might be different and it might make sense to to have it as part of um um products and services that you control fully makes sense um let's talk about small

guys now so they would prefer and I'm not sure if there is a way not to prefer the free Solutions simp there is one from Google right and it is free um what's your opinion is it like worth going after the free one if you're small team again let's limit ourself to 30 people or all and yeah it does it make sense to go free or it worth spending some money I'm not sure how much does the CMP cost now and what the price and rules yeah yeah absolutely so um in terms of the cmps you're absolutely right Google um offer like with with the announcement of these requirements Google did offer their own free version of of the CMP um and uh I can say that the biggest benefit of course is that it comes free of charge uh when we because we did a

heavy research on the CMP offer um in the market uh we could see that there are some uh features right uh that are offered by by their by alternative solutions that that uh that come with a price tag um compared to Google so for example uh with with other um Solutions um it's possible to like there are more um possib abilities to customize the message the the the the the actual popup um there's um options for uh there are options for AB testing different versions of the popup um there are um more granular uh reporting capabilities you know on a country level um and so on so there are benefits to um to choosing a paid solution among others also like you could have different settings for

different countries uh which may be more or less important for for developers so I guess it depends a lot on whether or not these additional um um let's say services or features are something that are valuable to to you as a developer or not um another thing that that uh might be worth mentioning is that Google uh is not providing um a lot of customer support around their CNP it's like a outof thee boox solution um which is meant to be used independently by developers while with paid Solutions you can even have like an account manager who can help you with with some questions dilemas any technical issues and so on so it really comes down to how much value you put uh on on these um additional features that paid cmps uh provide um I can tell you that um among game based clients um so we help them implement the CMP to

pretty much all of them um into more than three dozen games uh by now um and I can say that some of them are using Google uh free CMP some of them are using paid Solutions um and uh you know Google can still give really high consent or opin rate um so um I wouldn't disregard them um just like that uh even though they are lacking some features um so yeah I think it really depends on on the publisher needs and preferences even among the small uh small Publishers of course budget um is um is an important um item for every small publisher um and even for the big guys so um it it really depends also on the budget and and what your preference is but I definitely everyone whether you're small or big you need to invest

some time right it's not like uh optional you need to do that this is a substantial chunk of money on the table yes I mean so um that's an interesting point I think that um developers are assessing this effort uh also from the perspective of um of their uh players or user distribution across the globe right uh because some uh some apps are uh heavily focused on us and maybe other regions outside of Europe and then a very minor portion of their users is coming from the European regions let's say 10% okay whereas there are others where Europe is more significant with 20 30 40% of users and so these two um groups of of developers they're going to assess this um with more or less priority it depending on on the on this

Factor exactly so if you have 10% of users coming from Europe and then Google is bringing maybe 20 30% of that Revenue so that's like a single digit number when it comes to uh your overall revenue from ads and then it also depends on how much money of the overall revenue is coming from ads so you know there is complexity to this topic because some Publishers may see it as more important than others and for a good reason I would say that like if you're a let's say a hyper casual developer so more than 90% of your revenue is coming from ads and then you have a significant portion of users coming from Europe say 30 40% then um this this can be a potentially business impacting um uh topic um and then uh you have the other end of the spectrum where ADS are not significant and then Europe is not significant and so so these Publishers are not going to prioritize this topic

so much okay so it's not even about like integrating the CMP right now it's about like making the Strategic decision whether uh it's important for your business or yes exactly exactly a few few factors really need to be taken into account when um when um you know discussing these topics uh internally uh with the teams and deciding whether or not um you want to implement it and at which point in time really mhm super um let's uh uh look at the some of the implementations of those pop popups I have a couple of examples share my screen pretty quickly uh here is the your article on LinkedIn uh talking about that and you've shared this like interesting example from one of the apps from voodo

MH uh maybe you can explain to us what do they do here I'm not sure if I can zoom on yeah this is going to be better yes so one of the reasons why we decided to to highlight voodoo's uh implementation in in that article that you mentioned um is that uh they were one of the examples um in which a CMP message was actually combined um with um with let's say other popups that might appear for the user and so by merging those popups together I think the intention there uh was to um make sure that you have as few popups as possible for the users to try to reduce that friction uh point and for pretty much instead of showing terms of service and then privacy policy and then TMP and

then on ios8 popup so four different popups I think the intention here might have been to reduce the number of popups Al together merge what can be merged within one solution one popup and in that way reduce friction points and percentage of uh installs that would actually uh you know quit the game at the very start uh one more thing that I think is uh interesting to to highlight here is that uh for example for terms of service you really have to agree if you want to proceed um to the game whereas the CMP part of the message so the uh the um personalized ads part of the message you C no matter what you choose so whether you opt in or you opt out uh you will be able to proceed to the game and so um you know this is this says u a

bit about um you know what's obligatory what's not obligatory and how it can be um implemented um and another reason why um it's um this implementation is interesting is because um France where Voodoo is originally based out of um has become one of the more strict uh countries when it comes to um requirements around privacy see around personalized ads and what choices are given to users so it was interesting to see um how a company based at the front is dealing with this uh this topic and that's why we decided to highlight it uh in in this article how many popups do they have like in total with this one so this this is just one popup where they where they merge terms of service privacy policy and a traditional CMP message and then that's pretty much it on um on

Android when it comes to these popups regarding regulation and then on iOS um we also have ATT popup so uh popup that enables uh developers to collect idfa if the user decides to obtain so on Android it's just one on iOS it's two that's very elegant solution uh do you know that's something that uh people can do like with Google as a CP um so um this is not really possible as of now with the Google CMP because you can't really uh customize it a lot so you wouldn't be able to um include specific language uh that that you would probably want to around your terms of service right uh but um maybe that changes in the future maybe Google gives a little bit more op options along those lines but as of now if you're using

Google you can't really merge your existing let's say terms of service popup with with the the CMP message that comes out of box uh from Google okay got it but is it something standard that people can expect from other like paid simp uh Solutions I think that uh when it comes to paid Solutions it's something that's more flexible and um more probable that that they have this option there now as of now there are dozens of CMP Solutions so I can't speak for for all of them but for sure I know that some of them are allowing these customizations that would allow uh developers to actually merge um merge the popups got it yeah thanks so much um last question uh what are the most common um issues or things that people

Overlook when they integrate same pce um I think that's you know um observing the implementation over uh fre doen games and apps so far we've seen a few scenarios um I would say that uh one thing that people Overlook um is assessing which uh which uh ad Partners or ad providers or vendors should be included or listed in the popup itself okay and so for example we've seen cases where they're listing hundreds of these Partners even though uh they are not directly working with them and even though they are not generating a significant portion of a developers Revenue right and there are some downsides in um in uh including more Partners than you absolutely need I

won't go into details just because um it it can be a complex topic um but in general um I think that Publishers should focus only on the most important partners that should be listed in the CMP and this is something that we've seen is not always the case also by assessing um um implementations of some other games that are in the market um apart from that uh I think that um localization is important sometimes we see that developers forget to um localize the the popups uh into available languages across Europe which can have a negative impact on um on the op on the opin rate because users don't really understand um what's going on um and then I think that um um you know um for for um certain uh publishers it might make sense to differentiate um um their Solutions

depending on which country um which country the user is coming from just to make sure that you're compliant with um with all local um regulations so I think that maybe these would be just a few a few things to name at this point yeah again like it's crazy like it's another layer of work for poor developers even you said opting rate you need to keep track of another opting rate yes absolutely absolutely and I think that things are getting especially uh tricky for smaller developers you know if you're just trying to break even this is another um factor that adds to complexity um of you know things that you need to handle in order to to to be successful right um that's it thanks so much for uh that

that was really helpful I I learned so much there is really not many like uh resources where we can read about that and uh you want of the few people talk about thanks so much yeah thanks so much for for the opportunity it was a pleasure uh we'll leave all the links to game be Consulting into the description of this video we'll uh add the article that I shared um give us a like if you like this conversation and subscribe to our Channel thank you so much have a good one