Apple announced iAds back in April. We’ve had a look under the hood and here’s the low down.
According to Apple’s website, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users:
- Have downloaded more than five billion applications
- Spend, on average, 30 minutes per day using their apps
- Set trends and share with family and friends
Apple recently said that they had sold 2 million iPads in just two months. They also announced that the iPhone 4 will be available June 24. And, according to the Engadget’s poll of potential iPhone 4 buyers, 32.2% of respondents ticked the “Just try to stop me. This is my destiny” button.
So the number of ad impressions is enormous. But the magic doesn’t stop there. Apple has included a plethora of cool features for both advertisers and app developers.
“iAd offers advertisers the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web, and offers users a new way to explore ads without being hijacked out of their favorite apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iAds will reach millions of iPhone and iPod touch users—a highly desirable demographic for advertisers—and provide developers a new way to earn money so they can continue developing free and low cost applications.”
Traditionally, when users click a mobile ad it launches a browser, which loads the advertiser’s webpage. After viewing the offer, the user has to close the browser and relaunch the app. This cumbersome process doesn’t take users long to start ignoring ads in favor of staying safely within their apps.
“iAd solves this problem by displaying full-screen video and interactive ad content without ever leaving the app, and letting users return to their app anytime they choose,” says Apple.
The new iPhone SDK 4.0 allows us to embed iAd code within our apps. Ads are served based on demographic information, location and a myriad of other targeting options selected by the advertiser. The ads are dynamically and wirelessly delivered to the device and can change every time the user loads the app.
Apple sells and serves the ads with developers receiving 60 percent of iAd revenue. This revenue sharing model will help entice developers into including the ad code in their apps.
Apple users are loyal and passionate about their devices. The folks in Cupertino hope that businesses will turn to iAds in an effort to attract those same consumers to their products and services. But will it work?
I am excited about iAd. Search advertising rules desktop world but when it comes to mobile I believe Apple is on to something big. Several leading brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Campbell Soup Company, Chanel, Citi, DirecTV, GEICO, GE, JCPenney, Liberty Mutual Group, Nissan, Sears, State Farm, Target, Turner Broadcasting System, Unilever and The Walt Disney Studios agree. Apple has iAd commitments for the second half of 2010 totaling over $60 million, which represents almost 50 percent of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010.
We are currently working on a few test ads and running them inside the interactive tour app we’re developing for Bellefontaine Cemetery. We really like the ease in gathering opt-in information from users. They click a button, are presented with a form that’s populated from their address book entry and click submit. The ad can dump this information into a database, send an email or add the user to your Campaign Monitor distribution list. Slick.
For a closer look at iAd, check out this brief video of Steve Jobs’ keynote from yesterdays Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. The content is targeted towards app developers and how they can earn revenue by including the ads. This is good news for both advertisers and developers because more eyes translates to more impressions and increased revenue for everyone. Take a look.
What do you think? Will iAds revolutionize advertising? Or is it just another buzzworthy trend?
