Apple’s rocky iAd advertising platform is about to see some major changes, says Buzzfeed’s John Paczkowski. According to the report, Apple plans to dismantle its iAd sales team and stop its role as a middleman between publishers and customers:
While iAd itself isn’t going anywhere, Apple’s direct involvement in the selling and creation of iAd units is ending. “It’s just not something we’re good at,” one source told BuzzFeed News. And so Apple is leaving the creation, selling, and management of iAds to the folks who do it best: the publishers.
Apple is phasing out its iAd sales force entirely and updating the iAds platform so that publishers can sell through it directly.
The big news, Buzzfeed notes, is publishers that play ball will take home 100% of the ad revenue generated rather than a 70/30 split with Apple.
The timing for the shift makes the change a bit of a New Year’s Resolution as the report claims Apple could execute the change as soon as this week. From the start, Apple’s iAd business has been a struggling effort with various moves intended to make it more attractive and automated for publishers.
Besides the apparent lack of overall success with iAd in general, my first thought on Apple reducing its role in the iAd space is how the advertising business conflicts with Tim Cook’s effort toward user privacy. Remember the iAd exec that said privacy was holding the platform back? Being good at advertising typically requires a wealth of user data, although Apple obviously isn’t totally ending its effort here.
Apple’s Eddy Cue actually hinted at the change earlier this week in a story ran by the WSJ around Apple’s News app glitch with counting views on stories.
Mr. Cue said he was surprised by the extent to which publishers call on Apple to handle ad sales. He said Apple has accelerated the development of its iAd network and expects to launch a self-service ad-buying platform in the next two months to help increase ad spending.
So while it may end up being more work for publishers on the front end, the move sounds like a long overdue development if iAds are ever going to really take off as a proper revenue source on the iPhone and iPad. In the short term, iAds will play a role in monetizing content viewed through the Apple News app when using Apple’s own format.
Prior to Apple News, Apple’s iTunes Radio service optionally presented iAd advertisements to listeners with the free tier, although Apple Music has changed that aspect of the product. iAd still plays a part in monetizing free iOS apps, although the method is far less common than the use of in-app purchases.
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I suspect this would affect what Google can charge
hahahahahaha
Google derives the majority of their mobile ad revenue from iOS devices – excess of 70%. If you think Apple isn’t working on ways to cut into this, you’re dreaming.
This was confusing. I feel like the headline should read “… and keep all the revenue.” It seems to imply that Apple will still keep its 30% share which is untrue.
Thought the same exact thing. Confusing headline — should be changed to “AND” keep all the revenue — not “but”
Zac. Title is sort of… Shouldn’t that be: “… will soon let publishers do the hard work AND keep all the revenue”? As written it sound a little like Apple’s keeping the revenue.
I agree! Was pretty surprised when I read that title.
If only Apple would allow the content blockers inside News…
I’m assuming they don’t because the expectation is these are higher quality ads that people won’t mind seeing.
Should’t it be : Apple says it sucks at selling apps, will soon let programmers do the hard work AND keep all the revenue!
Apple sucks at selling apps?
Yes, they give them away for free, or sell high-quality Apps at ridiculous low prices, like Server for OS X at $20 or Final Cut Pro X at $300 (half the price of Sony Vegas Pro, e.g.)
Apps … like in iOS apps my fiend. And actually what I was saying, that 30% share is just way too much.
Cant wait till Apple does this with iBooks! They really should! I pay 30% of my sales to apple for doing next to nothing, they dont promote ibooks and their lack of energy with the ibookstore translates into horrendously slow sales which have to be individually driven. Sure they provide an amazing platform, but it needs a kickstart! Then you get your 23% VAT onto that thanks to the new ebook legislation and it means one hundred percent of my work gives me 47% of the revenue… I’m 18 and i believe this would be a strong move by apple atleast for interactive ibooks used in the education sector. We all want iPads in schools so make it easier to get the best content out there and help publishers promote it and together we can succeed! Probably too optimistic on my behalf but we thought we’d never see phones bigger than 3.5 inches or Apple Pencils (styluses) or even Apple row back on their 30% iAd cut!
Cant agree with you, sir. Probably you wont get that sales made through apple devices if your books were not in its system, apple seamlessly does promote your book through its global marketing model, ease of buying makes good sales. And you can set your own price, make it a 30% more than on other sale-platforms. You call it “doing nothing”, but its the best thing you can get for free
You aren’t forced to sell through Apple.
Macs and iDevices can have other Apps like Amazon or Kobo, and you can even sell through your site, as .ePub, that the iUser will be able to import into the iBooks App.
Headline is misleading – using the word ‘but’ makes it sound like Apple will keep all the money.