Facebook warns that Apple's privacy changes will decimate a small part of its advertising business

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for August 27. I’m Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at ljohnson@businessinsider.com

Today’s news: Facebook warns Apple about ad revenue drop, 2020’s biggest marketing-tech execs, and McDonald’s investigates its ex-CEO.

Rob Price reports that Apple’s plan to make it harder for apps to track users’ data without their consent in iOS 14 will impact Facebook’s ad business.
Facebook says that the changes could cut revenues for its Audience Network ad network by up to 50%. Facebook’s Audience Network makes money by placing ads on websites outside of Facebook but does not represent the bulk of Facebook’s revenue.
“This is not a change we want to make, but unfortunately Apple’s updates to iOS 14 have forced this decision. We know this may severely impact publishers’ ability to monetize through Audience Network on iOS 14, and, despite our best efforts, may render Audience Network so ineffective on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it on iOS 14 in the future,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.

Marketing technology is becoming a big opportunity for startups, agencies, and cloud giants vying for a piece of this $122 billion industry.
I identified 20 executives at the forefront of the industry, including Adobe’s Anjul Bhambhri and Mailchimp’s John Foreman.
Even as the coronavirus has hit the advertising and marketing industries hard, martech companies have remained steady because of software as a service (Saas) business models and an uptick in demand to create websites and shift budgets.

As part of a wider investigation, McDonald’s is investigating if ex-CEO Steve Easterbrook covered up misconduct by other executives during his time leading the company, reports Kate Taylor.
The investigation also includes allegations about McDonald’s HR department related to Easterbrook. The fast-food chain is suing him to try and force him to return a multi-million dollar severance agreement.
Former chief people officer David Fairhurst also left McDonald’s in November for “conduct that was inconsistent with the company’s policies and values.”

Facebook warns that Apple’s privacy changes will decimate a small part of its advertising business