Apple Rumoured to Be Stepping Back From In-House iAds ⇥ buzzfeed.com
John Paczkowski for Buzzfeed:
Multiple sources familiar with the company’s plans tell BuzzFeed News that Apple is getting out of the advertising-sales business and shifting to a more automated platform.
While iAd itself isn’t going anywhere, Apple’s direct involvement in the selling and creation of iAd units is ending. “It’s just not something we’re good at,” one source told BuzzFeed News. And so Apple is leaving the creation, selling, and management of iAds to the folks who do it best: the publishers.
If it’s getting gutted to this extent, I’m surprised Apple would continue running iAd in any capacity. Why wouldn’t they get out of advertising almost entirely, with the exception of ads running on Apple Music?
Update: By “Apple Music”, I meant iTunes Radio, but that’s neither here nor there:
As part of the winding down of its iAd platform, Apple today sent out a notice to customers who listen to its radio service letting them know the radio feature is being discontinued at the end of January.
In the email, Apple says that Beats 1 radio will be the only free listening option available to those who do not subscribe to the Apple Music service. Customers who listen to radio stations sans ads with an iTunes Match subscription are also receiving the emails and will no longer be able to listen to radio stations as an iTunes Match perk.
Apple’s advertising page currently mentions ads in News, “offers” in Wallet, ads in apps, and ads in Apple Music. So, as far as regular ads, it sounds like this leaves only News.
This jives with Paczkowski’s claim that publishers will be taking over. I’m not surprised Apple’s bowing out of advertising; I am surprised that it has taken this long.