Starting this month, there’s a new advertising option right in your customers’ hands. Apple iAds now appear inside of apps1 running on 85 million iPhones and iPod Touches. (Eventually iAds also will be rolled out to the newer iPad devices.)
As of the July 1 launch, Apple had already sold over $60 million of iAd advertising space. Major companies that have purchased iAd space include Best Buy, Campbell Soup, Chanel, GEICO, GE, Nissan, Target and Walt Disney Studios. Based on the amount of time the average iPhone user spends using apps (about 30 minutes a day), Apple estimates that iAds could surpass one billion ad exposures every day.
Similar to ads on websites, the iAd initially occupies a small portion of the iPhone screen while the app will continue to run in the remainder of the screen. Clicking the iAd launches a full-screen ad.
Not all apps will include iAds – it is up to the developer of any given app to decide whether iAds will be delivered via that app. (The motivation to include iAds is that the developer will receive 60% of the advertising revenue generated by their app.)
One of the strong points for iAds is that they can be very precisely targeted based on such criteria as a person’s location, music and movie tastes, and other demographics. So if you want to reach only 40–50 year-old women in Greendale, Wisconsin who listen to Fleetwood Mac and watch the show Mad Men, you can do it.
Nissan created a video to show how their first iAd looks and behaves on the iPhone. (Click the photo to the left to view the Nissan Leaf iAd Demo on YouTube.)
Probably the largest unknown is how accepting the audience will be to suddenly having animated and video advertisements playing on their iPhone. Apple plans to measure a wide variety of metrics for every iAd so they have a detailed understanding of what makes an iAd effective (and what doesn’t work). So expect to see Apple react quickly to tweak the iAd program if any issues arise with viewer patience or acceptance.
Want to learn more about iAds and whether they fit into your advertising plan? Contact Creatonomy today.
- Apps are the programs that run on an iPhone, such as email, a restaurant finder, games, etc. [↩]
