While Apple limits the ad business of rivals like Facebook and Google on its platforms, the company makes millions of dollars from its own targeted ad service. According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple may be ready to further expand this service.
If you don’t know — Apple has its own targeted ad system. It’s called Apple Search Ads, and it allows advertisers to run campaigns on the App Store, Apple News and Stock Market applications on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Even in the United States, it also has agreements to offer ads within Apple TV+.
Todd Teresi, Apple’s vice president of advertising platforms, intends to increase annual revenue in this segment to “double digits”, while now this figure is approximately $4 billion a year, according to the source. Advertising will increase by about 250%.
Apple has already begun testing ad integrations in the Maps app. In the future, ads will be added to the Books and Podcasts apps. Apple has already announced that users will see more ads in the App Store soon. New ad units in iOS 16 will allow these types of content to appear on the Today tab of the App Store, as well as at the bottom of pages in other apps.
The truth is that Apple’s movements in the advertising business have not been without controversy in the past, mainly because of its speech as a defender of user privacy. The company launched in 2021 with iOS 14.5 App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which allows users to decide whether or not they want to be tracked for targeted advertising. However, Apple apps that include ads do not have to go through this filter; that is, they do not ask users for permission to be tracked.