Advertisers and App Developers Happy With Early Results of Apple's iAd Program

[MacRumors]

The Los Angeles Times takes a look at Apple's iAd mobile advertising platform that launched on July 1st, speaking to both advertisers and app developers who have been pleased with the program so far.

From the perspective of developers, the iAd program is offering premium ad space for their applications, allowing for increased revenue through the iAd pricing structure and the big-name advertisers involved in the early rotation.

Dictionary.com said on Wednesday that the amount it could charge for its ad space had increased 177% since it enabled iAds in its iPhone app, and CBS Mobile Senior Vice President Rob Gelick said the company's six apps -- including apps for CBS Sports, CNET, and GameSpot, were seeing up to $25 CPMs (the cost advertiser's pay for an add to appear a thousand times.)

Advertisers are similarly pleased with iAd's performance, noting the level of engagement for users and their willingness to revisit ads multiple times, aiding in brand awareness.

Rob Master, the North American media director for Unilever, which put out one of the first iAds for its Dove shower products -- said his company would soon launch a second iAd for its Klondike dessert bar. The company's Dove ad featured videos and trivia games about baseball players Albert Pujols and Andy Pettitte.

The Dove ad resulted in a "double-digit" percentage of users seeking further information about the product, with 20% of viewers returning to check the ad out again. (Repeat viewers are marketers' favorite kind -- it indicates a clear interest in their brand.) That's a good start, Master said.

Master also notes that the company's early entrance into the iAd platform and the experience its advertising team gained with the initial launch have reduced the time and expense required for future ads in the program.

The report notes that Campbell Soup, DirectTV, General Electric and Sears are all preparing to roll out their own iAds, just as Citibank has gone live with its new ad with video and geo-location content built in to tout the company's credit cards and iPhone apps.

Article Link: Advertisers and App Developers Happy With Early Results of Apple's iAd Program

 

[HiRez]

iAds is really a great alternative for developers who are tired of the "race to the bottom" (ie. 99¢) in the App Store. And it seems like a great way to make some small apps free while still bringing devs some revenue.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

How long is this going to be sustained before the novelty wears off?

I clicked on an iAd for that green car... the Nissan Leaf... I'll be damned, the ad worked because I can never remember the name or brand of any car normally... only because I was curious about iAds. I clicked on the same ad a few days later again because an app developer who hadn't seen a single iAd yet was curious about what they look like.

Point is, I'm only clicking because I'm curious about iAds, not the actual products they're advertising. (I don't care about green cars, I want a cheap car... I'm looking into buying a car off a friend who's selling it for $1,500... trying to figure out why he's willing to sell it for so low... has to be something wrong with it...)

 

[nagromme]

How long is this going to be sustained before the novelty wears off?

I clicked on an iAd for that green car... the Nissan Leaf... I'll be damned, the ad worked because I can never remember the name or brand of any car normally... only because I was curious about iAds. I clicked on the same ad a few days later again because an app developer who hadn't seen a single iAd yet was curious about what they look like.

Ads have been effective ways to support things for decades, so although the specific novelty if the interactions hidden with iAds will diminish somewhat (depending on how creative advertisers get), other factors will improve at the same time: user base, for instance. So I think iAds will remain a good option for developers.

(And for the inevitable people who think iAds is some evil thing: a) ads aren’t new in iPhone apps—they were always one option for apps, and always will be on this and other platforms; and b) good free apps can’t happen if developers starve to death, and many people like to have good free apps.)

 

[Rudy69]

Personally I am VERY happy with the iAd program, my app is the perfect type for it. I'm having way more success than selling it for $0.99

 

[skeep5]

can someone please help me learn to program for the iphone so i can make a doodle jump and cash in

 

[Serelus]

So stop crying, admob *cough* google *cough*.

 

[paul4339]

How long is this going to be sustained before the novelty wears off?

I clicked on an iAd for that green car... the Nissan Leaf... I'll be damned, the ad worked because I can never remember the name or brand of any car normally... only because I was curious about iAds. I clicked on the same ad a few days later again because an app developer who hadn't seen a single iAd yet was curious about what they look like.

Point is, I'm only clicking because I'm curious about iAds, not the actual products they're advertising. (I don't care about green cars, I want a cheap car... I'm looking into buying a car off a friend who's selling it for $1,500... trying to figure out why he's willing to sell it for so low... has to be something wrong with it...)

Good points. The really test (for any company) is will iAd add to the bottom line and help sell more product.

P.

 

[latafairam]

iAd Blocker

is there an iAd blocker app? where do i find it. I hate these iAds.

 

[DavidLeblond]

My personal experience is I got good return AT FIRST with the iAds. It has gone down significantly, but is starting to go back up slightly since the other ads are being introduced.

 

[akm3]

can someone please help me learn to program for the iphone so i can make a doodle jump and cash in

Sure! Join the dev program, download Xcode, and go to the library and check out some books on xcode and iphone development.

Work hard, apply yourself, practice every day, and come up with some creative ideas! Then code them, and hope you are lucky!

 

[odedia]

iAd sucks for non-American apps.

 

[IOIIOOO]

I was using iAd exclusively for a while with my apps after it released, but I found the click-through rates to be horrible compared to Google and Admob ads. The problems I found was that there is a really low fill rate with iAd (35% on a good day, as low as 8% on others, compared to 90%+ on Google and Admob ads) and there were basically 2 ads shown (Leaf, Dial) across ALL iAd apps making repeat clicks non-existent.

I ended up pushing an update with AdWhirl integrated, and I set 34% to iAd, 33% to Google, and 33% to AdMob, and at those percentages, AdMob and Google both generate pretty even revenues while iAd generates maybe 10% of either of the other two (or 5% of the other two combined) on a daily basis.

iAd has a lot of potential, but until they get a strong mix of ads and a high fill rate, there's no way I could afford to use them exclusively.

 

[aaronptrck]

Maybe it's just me.... But I'm a very religious iPod Touch user using a good number of iAD supported apps.. yet I've never seen an iAd appear on my apps....

 

[Full of Win]

I've asked it before and I'll ask it again - if iAd is so good then why doesn't Apple use it for advertising?

Aside from the iPhone, Apple has plenty of fodder for iAd like the iPad, MacBook, Mac Book Pro, XServe, XSan, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, iPod Classic, Apple TV, iMac, iTunes content, Mac Mini, MacPro, Airport routers, Cinema Display, Mobile Me, iLife, iWork, Final Cut (both express and pro), Logic, and sundry peripherals (rechargeable batteries, keyboards, mice, track pad).

Surly, the iPhone users would be more receptive to advertising from Apple. I still think the reason that Apple does not use it is because they know its a bill of goods.

 

[ShiftyPig]

Surly, the iPhone users would be more receptive to advertising from Apple. I still think the reason that Apple does not use it is because they know its a bill of goods.

Apple doesn't have to advertise to those people. They drink the Kool-Aid on their own volition.

 

[Jeremy1026]

I've asked it before and I'll ask it again - if iAd is so good then why doesn't Apple use it for advertising?

Same reason google doesn't advertise on adsense. The point of running an ad network is to make money from advertisers, if you are simply paying yourself, you aren't really making money. Also, if Apple fills all unfilled inventory with their own ads, why would an advertiser want to go there? What makes them think that the host company isn't overfilling their own ads, and leaving their advertisers out to dry, it takes away from the confidence and integrity of the network.

 

[DrFreeman]

I've asked it before and I'll ask it again - if iAd is so good then why doesn't Apple use it for advertising?

Aside from the iPhone, Apple has plenty of fodder for iAd like the iPad, MacBook, Mac Book Pro, XServe, XSan, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, iPod Classic, Apple TV, iMac, iTunes content, Mac Mini, MacPro, Airport routers, Cinema Display, Mobile Me, iLife, iWork, Final Cut (both express and pro), Logic, and sundry peripherals (rechargeable batteries, keyboards, mice, track pad).

Surly, the iPhone users would be more receptive to advertising from Apple. I still think the reason that Apple does not use it is because they know its a bill of goods.

What on earth

iAd is just an advertising platform developed by Apple. It is the next logical thing to do for apple, and for that matter any company in apple's position.

Why does anyone in the right mind would want to put ads on Final Cut or Airport routers!!!!

 

[dlewis23]

iAds are good. I use them in almost all my apps, but the fill rates need to come up. Apple still only has 2 different ads running.

 

[arn]

is there an iAd blocker app? where do i find it. I hate these iAds.

yes. usually there is a paid version of the app. If so, buy it and ads blocked!

arn

 

[OllyW]

Maybe it's just me.... But I'm a very religious iPod Touch user using a good number of iAD supported apps.. yet I've never seen an iAd appear on my apps....

I'm happy to say I haven't seen one yet on my iPhone.

 

[kickdacatt]

Not really...

"The Dove ad resulted in a "double-digit" percentage of users seeking further information about the product, with 20% of viewers returning to check the ad out again. (Repeat viewers are marketers' favorite kind -- it indicates a clear interest in their brand.) That's a good start, Master said."

It's more than likely that there is very little interest in your brand and more interest in either:

1) Pujols
2) Pettitte
3) How the iAd works specifically (e.g. what is it?!)

People are far less interested in your advertisement and far more interested in the technology, how it's being used. I would place a significant wager that this time next year the interest in an iAd for Dove or most any Unilever product, for that matter, will diminish by almost double digits.

It was good to get in there early, but long term will mean very little. Statistics will also show that the bump in sales will be almost non-existent.

 

[3goldens]

Do tell me, what kind of moron clicks on an advertisement?

I mean, don't they get enough commercials at home, in the magazines and newspapers they read, the billboards and vehicle advertisements they see on the way to work?

Personally, I hate this intrusion as much as I hate commercials in a movie theater that I've paid close to $20 to get into and then be subjected to a dizzying amount of blatantly bad commercials for products I would never buy in a million years.

if I want an application for the iPhone I buy it, I'm not interested in subsidizing small developers, if there programs any good I'll buy it. quite frankly I don't think many of the programs are any good if they have to be subsidized by a commercial intrusion like and iad to ensure its success or its availability that is probably no good anyway, or a total waste of time. My experience with most of these programs leads me to believe the great majority of them are nothing but a bunch of crap and a waste of time.

This program will no doubt be a success because they're millions of morons in the world who think they're getting a great deal on a lousy application because their willing to put up with the mind warping and numbing commercials that are designed for level of intelligence.

 

[HiRez]

Do tell me, what kind of moron clicks on an advertisement?

I mean, don't they get enough commercials at home, in the magazines and newspapers they read, the billboards and vehicle advertisements they see on the way to work?

Personally, I hate this intrusion as much as I hate commercials in a movie theater that I've paid close to $20 to get into and then be subjected to a dizzying amount of blatantly bad commercials for products I would never buy in a million years.

if I want an application for the iPhone I buy it, I'm not interested in subsidizing small developers, if there programs any good I'll buy it. quite frankly I don't think many of the programs are any good if they have to be subsidized by a commercial intrusion like and iad to ensure its success or its availability that is probably no good anyway, or a total waste of time. My experience with most of these programs leads me to believe the great majority of them are nothing but a bunch of crap and a waste of time.

This program will no doubt be a success because they're millions of morons in the world who think they're getting a great deal on a lousy application because their willing to put up with the mind warping and numbing commercials that are designed for level of intelligence.

Oh good lord, it's a 320x50 pixel strip on the screen, which you don't have to click on. Most apps will have a paid version that gets rid of that, if you prefer, but why blast giving people the option? You have quite a condescending attitude towards consumers and you obviously don't understand what it means to be a developer trying to make a living. A lot of people won't even try an app if it's not free, before deciding to purchase a paid version (or not). 99¢ is not much to me, but I don't want to buy a boatload of 99¢ apps before I find a few I like. It's a much easier decision if the ad-supported version is free. If you don't like it, delete it. If you like it a little, live with the ads. If you like it a lot, pay for the ad-free version.

 

[SockRolid]

iAd on iTV in HD?

Apple is probably planning to expand the iAd program to the next-gen Apple TV, which is supposedly now called iTV again. And it seems almost certain that iTV will run iOS. iAds will attract content providers and app developers to iTV. And it will also open up another revenue stream for Apple since iTV will probably be sold at or below cost.

This is what Steve was referring to when he mentioned at All Things Digital that Apple had no go-to-market strategy in the television space: "The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set top box for free. So no one wants to buy a box." Well, if the box makes you money through iAds, maybe you don't need your customers to buy the box.

So would it be hard to get iAds to work on HDTV? No. The technology for scaling iAds to iTV is already in place. Apple has been working on "resolution independence" (drawing images at sizes independent of pixel density) since 2006, and scaling iAds and apps from the iPhone / iPod Touch screen size to 60"+ HDTV screen sizes would be an obvious use of that technology.

Actually, doing the math, scaling between HDTV and iPhone 4 should be easy. HDTV pixel size is 1920x1080, and iPhone 4 pixel size is 960 x 640. So HDTV pixel width is exactly 2x that of iPhone 4 and HDTV pixel height is 200 less than 2x that of iPhone 4 (in landscape orientation). So it's a pretty simple conversion with minor cropping / letterboxing.

Then again, Steve also said "I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out, but that’s why we say Apple TV is a hobby." Maybe "smarter people" refers to his iAd team, and "us" refers to "me, Steve Jobs." So maybe he really meant was "I'm sure my iAd team, who are smarter than me, will figure this out..."