It seems that Apple is slowly turning away from its iAd program, which has never been responsible for a large portion of its sales. The company now plans to cease its direct involvement with iAd.
During the next couple of months, Apple will dismantle its iAd sales team and will turn their advertising program directly to publishers. This means that publishers will be able to create and sell their own advertising content.
[quote]“Advertising industry sources familiar with Apple’s new plan for iAds seem intrigued by it. “I think this is going to be great for publishers,” said one. “It gives them direct dialogue with their customers as opposed to forcing them to go through an Apple middleman. Access will be more plentiful and easier to manage — theoretically.”[/quote]
Interestingly enough, Apple made the first step towards automating iAd with an iAd Workbench update, which added tools to allow publishers to sell their own ads via Apple News. The company is now expanding its Apple News model to the App Store and other platforms.
Apple’s advertising program, called iA, debuted in 2010. However, it has failed to become a successful platform mainly due to pricing. Around that time, numerous publications wrote that iAd’s buy-in few was at $500,000. Apple made numerous improvements over the years, including integration with platforms like iTunes Radio and Apple News.
In case you’re an iOS user, the impact on you will be minimal. The iAd platform will stick around and should continue working in the same way as before. All of the newly released changes will happen in the background.
