Apple Ads: Apple's advertising platform is broadening its base

Search advertising alone is a thing of the past: Apple's advertising platform is now called “Apple Ads” instead of “Apple Search Ads”. The advertising offer has “outgrown search”, which is why the company has decided to change the name, Apple explained succinctly. No new advertising formats or banner placements were announced.

Apple's growing advertising business

Pure search engine advertising has long since had its day in the App Store: for a good two years now, banners have been appearing even in the prominent main view of the App Store app, which appears immediately after opening it. According to Apple, 650 million users open the central app for software distribution on iPhones at least once a week. However, the figures are still from 2022 and are likely to be much higher. According to industry observers, Apple now generates several billion US dollars in annual revenue from advertising in the App Store, which is purely for apps.

So far, Apple's advertising platform has only been based on two apps: the App Store and Apple News, which is not available in this country. Advertising for other products is also permitted in the latter app. In addition to its advertising platform, Apple also allows other marketers to advertise there, and publishers can also market their content themselves. The company's advertising platform also includes the application called Shares and the Apple TV app.

Many advertising spaces in Apple apps possible

There is regular speculation in the industry that Apple could easily increase its advertising business significantly: The in-house, pre-installed apps offer numerous potential advertising spaces – and therefore further revenue potential. Apple Maps in particular has recently been discussed as a potential candidate for advertising. Apple is also increasingly integrating more advertising into its own operating systems, for example in the settings. Up to now, advertising for in-house services has been drummed up there, and advertising space has not been marketed to third parties. Microsoft, on the other hand, is even testing an ad-financed Office.

Users “trust and rely on Apple”, according to the company's own advertising for its ads platform, which is why they also “interact” with advertisements. The company does not allow small-scale targeting, but it does form larger user segments and can draw on detailed usage and device data, including the rough location and the age and address details in the Apple account.

(lbe)