Apple won’t show significantly more iPhone ads. In addition, Apple apparently stopped the project to inject ads into Spotlight search results a few years ago.
- What is happening? A new report says that Apple will not significantly increase the advertising load on its iPhone, as some members of the company’s advertising team object.
- Why care? Because you don’t need more ads on your iPhone.
- What to do? Breathe a sigh of relief.
Apple wanted to embed ads in Spotlight search results
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman recently wrote about Apple’s alleged plan to boost iPhone ad load, arguing that the company is aiming to triple its ad revenue. He said that Apple had internally tested search ads in Maps and mentioned that ads could appear in apps like Books and Podcasts. Watch: iPhone tricks that will blow your mind
A new report from The Information casts doubt on Gourmet’s story. An article by Wayne Ma entitled “Apple’s love-hate relationship with its $4 billion advertising business”argues that Apple is not thinking about showing more ads to iPhone users because the company is happy with its revenue.
The story also sheds light on the internal discussions of the advertising team, which was reportedly debating the insertion of ads into Spotlight search results back in 2018. Ultimately, the advertising team backed out, so Apple shelved the plan. Some members of the advertising team have even officially complained to management that they think Apple has gone too far.
Audience Refinement – New Targeting
The information contains information that sales representatives working in the Apple advertising department are provided with a list of words to avoid when communicating with customers.
Instead of using the term “targeting”to describe the company’s ability to deliver Apple search ads tailored to user tastes, Apple is asking its sales reps to say “audience refinement,”according to three people familiar with the business.
Audience refinement sounds a lot less ominous than targeting, but it comes down to the same thing—getting as much information about the user as possible to add value to the ad.
Instead of using “algorithm”to describe its technical ad delivery methods, Apple encourages representatives to use the term “platform”. Also missing, People say, is “conquest,”referring to the practice of an advertiser buying ads that appear whenever users search for competing brands. “Competitor keywords”and “brand protection”are acceptable substitutes.
Brand protection is exactly what some developers were forced to do after Apple placed ads at the bottom of app pages. Shortly thereafter, gambling apps and casinos started buying these ads. This forced some developers to spend extra money to buy these ad spaces in order to stop sending traffic to competitors. In response, Apple has banned ads from these categories from being shown on app pages.
What about privacy and all that?
Gurman’s report upset fans who didn’t want Apple to start showing more ads at a time when the company is strongly committed to privacy.
Others saw the App Tracking Transparency initiative as hypocritical because Apple’s position is that advertising turns a customer into a product. Recent iOS changes that require iPhone apps to get permission to track users have been seen as a way to hurt competition as Apple recently launched two new ad slots in the App Store.
And with recent deals like Major League Soccer starting airing on Apple TV+ in February, some people fear that Apple will soon start selling ads on its video streaming service.