earlier in the past Months ago, Apple hinted at desirable new placements in the Apple App Store in an email invite to developers.
The rumors are true – Apple has officially announced two new ad placements: Today tab and the Product page ad placements.
Expand your reach with Tab ads today
Starting right away, advertisers can display their apps on the front page of Apple’s App Store—a placement chosen by the App Store editorial team in advance.
Why is this important?
Until now, Apple’s advertising inventory has focused on search campaigns, where demand can only be met by search volume and keyword match types.
The Today tab can be one of the first places users reach when they visit the App Store. Being front and center to a potential new user is crucial when building brand awareness.
Today tab ad placements allow marketers to further diversify ad budgets to build awareness.
So, what will this new ad placement look like?
On the Today tab, ad placements will look like this when the user scrolls through the Today feed:
Marketers must first set up a dedicated product page in App Store Connect to take advantage of Today’s ads.
There are additional requirements for a product page dedicated to displaying ads in the Today tab:
- Include at least four (4) vertical assets, OR
- Include at least five (5) landscape assets
Once your customized product page is approved in App Store Connect, it will be subject to secondary approval by Apple Search Ads for use in advertising purposes.
Pay to play with product page ad placements
This new ad placement is where things start to get interesting.
Advertisers can display their apps on individual product pages within the Apple App Store.
As users browse a specific app’s product page, a new ad placement appears at the bottom in a section called “You May Also Like”.
Here is an example of this ad placement:
Image credit: Searchads.apple.com, October 2022Currently, this ad placement is available for all countries except China.
Product page Setting ads will work similarly to existing ad types such as search or tab search campaigns – ads will be organized based on the assets currently on your app’s product page, including the app name, icon, and subtitle.
Product page ads can be shown across all categories, or you can refine them to include specific categories of your choice.
So, what makes this ad placement so controversial?
Some users, including a tweet from Florian Muellerwas quick to criticize this aggressive move by Apple, pointing out that it is another way advertisers have to pay for their brand terms to display an ad on their product page to protect it from competitors.
Apple wants to triple its ad revenue in the near future, and one sure way to achieve that could be for brands to bid on their own terms, making the landscape more competitive.
Additional examination of Apple Ads expansion comes from Meta. Facebook’s parent company has it publicly is being audited Apple’s strategy of offering enhanced privacy features prevents third parties from accurately tracking ad performance, all while expanding its ad business.
summary
Apple’s expansion into ad placements has doubled its ad inventory options. While this step helps marketers diversify their marketing strategy, it doesn’t come without a price.
It begs the question whether Apple’s privacy improvements focus solely on user privacy or fuel its ad network for record profits.
Tell Us – Will You Try New Apple Ad Placements? Why and why not?
Featured image: Primakov/Shutterstock
