Apple is going to increase the number of ads it shows in its first-party apps across iOS, iPadOS and macOS. Right now the ads are limited to the App Store, News and Stocks apps as well as its TV+ platform. On the App Store, developers can pay Apple to list their apps on top for better visibility on the search pages. The News and Stocks app show full ad banners as we see on most websites, and the Apple TV+ has ads from its “Friday Night Baseball” deal with Major League Baseball.
Last year, Apple launched a feature called App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which allowed users to keep in check which apps were tracking them. This was great for the users, but not so much for companies which solely rely on user data for targeted marketing, ultimately resulting in a revenue hit.
According to Financial Times, Apple’s app tracking policy cost social media platforms nearly $10 billion. Based on data from market research firm Omdia, Apple’s ad revenue earnings grew to $3.7 billion in 2021.
Now, it is only natural for Apple to explore an opportunity like this. According to Bloomberg, “Apple is going to, over time, significantly expand its own advertising business.”
Should the users choose to not share their data with the advertisers and marketers, they can disable the ad personalisation feature under Apple Advertising in the settings app’s Privacy & Security menu. Apple says that 78 percent of iOS 15 users have done just that.
The tech giant could expand its ads to Apple Maps, Apple Books and Apple Podcasts.
