Image: Patrick Holland/CNET.
Apple would aim to place more advertising on iPhones, through the native App Store, Maps, Books and Podcasts applications, according to some articles.
Mark Gurman, Apple Watcher at Bloomberg, reports that VP of Advertising Todd Teresi wants to significantly grow the ad business. He would like to accelerate the current pace of $4 billion a year to double digits.
Extensive ad placements
For the journalist, Apple could reach an advertising turnover of several billion dollars by helping more developers to promote their applications in the App Store. The Apple firm could extend this ad model to its Plans, Books and Podcasts applications.
At the same time, the brand’s streaming service, Apple TV+, could also be sponsored by advertising in order to display a lower price. The aim is to respond to the movement of viewers, who are beginning to reduce their subscriptions to streaming services. Apple would thus join the other streaming giants which have created subscriptions with advertising, such as Netflix and Disney+.
In the most recent quarter, which ended June 25, the services earned Apple $19.6 billion. Products meanwhile brought in $63.4 billion over the same period.
When Tim Cook fought against online advertising
Since July, the App Store already has more advertising slots. While advertising was previously limited to the “Search” tab and search results, ads now line the “Today” home page. Application pages also incorporate advertisements. New ad placements are also expected to appear in the News, Apple Store, and Stocks apps with iOS 16, which will be released this fall.
But the company is poorly positioned to venture into online advertising. In particular because Tim Cook, its CEO, has always criticized the Internet sponsored by advertising. In 2018, he blamed Facebook, Google and other big internet companies for becoming “industrial data complexes” targeting users with military precision.
In addition, Apple promises to protect the privacy of its customers by offering services such as the use of random identifiers and by committing not to target individuals or small groups for data tracking, favoring segments of 5,000 or more users. In 2021, Apple released an App Tracking Transparency Report, to let users see what data from apps is used to track their behavior.
Source: ZDNet.com