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110326-iad_icon.jpg


All Things Digital reports that Apple has cut in half the minimum commitment for advertisers to participate in its iAd program. The minimum buy-in set for the program's launch last July was $1 million, but Apple has apparently reduced that number to $500,000 in order to entice new advertisers unwilling to spend a full $1 million to come on board.
The new entry point is $500,000, a significantly smaller commitment, particularly for smaller brands and agencies that are creating and producing their own iAds.

"This new minimum buy is a great step forward and a necessary one, I think," Mark Read, CEO of WPP Digital, the digital arm of global ad giant WPP, told me. "Lowering the minimum buy to $500,000 from $1 million will certainly make the platform more appealing."
A report earlier this month indicated that Apple is struggling to fill ad slots and renew existing advertisers for its iAd program as the number of iOS devices capable of displaying the ads continues to soar. While Apple has offered a low-cost iAd program targeted at App Store developers since the early days of the service, the lowered buy-in level for mainstream advertisers could easily spur new interest from advertisers who would still spend significant sums of money.


Article Link: Apple Slices iAd Buy-In Fee for Advertisers in Half
 
Good to see Apple adjusting... Seems natural given how new all this stuff is. I'm sure competition is helping drive the entry level down too. Advertisers have so many choices now.
 
It seems like Apple's market analyst who came up with $1,000,000 will be scrutinized more.

Now I wonder if Apple will wait until the market does a collective yawn (and jumps ship) over the 30% cut for content that they don't even serve...or if they'll scrutinize this before that day comes?
 
I hope this results in higher fill rates in the future. Right now my users are seeing more than 90% AdMob ads in my app and I'd much rather than see iAds because iAds are all around nicer and more interesting and pay better when clicked. :)
 
I hope this results in higher fill rates in the future. Right now my users are seeing more than 90% AdMob ads in my app and I'd much rather than see iAds because iAds are all around nicer and more interesting and pay better when clicked. :)

Do the AdMob ads run automatically when there aren't iAds to fill, or do you have to set it up?
 
Did they slash it in half for App developers too?

The minimum for iAd for developer's Apps is $5000. I wonder if they slashed that in half to $2500?

Marcus
 
This is the fruitage of billionaires trying to make something affordable.
 
I get the feeling these ads benefit the younger crowd most. I haven't seen an iAD but I imagine young people who spend a lot of time going through the App store and trying everything benefit from the free apps.
 
From Apple: Maybe asking for a ElventySeventy Bazillion dollars was a bit steep, we'll take all your Pokemon and Yugi-Oh cards plus half your allowance for 2 months.:D
 
It seems like Apple's market analyst who came up with $1,000,000 will be scrutinized more.

Now I wonder if Apple will wait until the market does a collective yawn (and jumps ship) over the 30% cut for content that they don't even serve...or if they'll scrutinize this before that day comes?

:rolleyes: Its only a matter of time as competition on the Android takes off and they will drop to compete with, as long as Apple is the only game in town so to speak they will do what a monopoly does, once new players take off and give alternative they will drop their price.

Apple is after all just what it is and nothing more, a :apple: Company nothing magical about how it does business. :)
 
Time to bury iAd along with ping and move on.

Why burry a good idea, just adjust to the market and it will make some kind of return. I for one like iAd if done right and see no problem with it if you want free. For me of course I don't do free and rather pay for something and have no adds or annoying commercials. Netflix anyone :D

Hulu + :mad: once they drop the whole commercial still with paid subscription I will get that also or have they already dropped the commercial part?
 
Poor Planning on Realistic Expectations

Sounds like they're trying to save a sinking ship.

It seems to me like they are treating this like an established industry and practice, which it is not. I believe they need to achieve GROWTH primarily in the mobile advertising world, not treat it like established TV 'take it or leave it' slot advertising where there is already a competitive market with limited availability.

Keep in mind, Google Adwords was uncharted territory when it started, and it started small with a minimum campaign of (what, $5?). They didn't say '$500K or forget it'.... If apple designed it correctly, the process for receiving, accepting, and implementing ads should require nothing other than a human database glance to make sure the content is 'suitable' if you get my drift..... Neither did the App Store put significant dollar amounts in addition to their share of profit.
 
Called this when it launched and will state that while this might entice some over the edge - iAds will never be the success Apple wants or expects until they stop being the arbiter or how the creative is delivered.

No advertiser or ad agency wants to be told what their message is. They want/need specs for the buy in. That's where the medium's job comes in. It is not the medium's job to dictate the message.
 
Failure? Who said that?

I'm surprised at the breathless trolls talking about iAds' as a failure. Starting with a limited market and then opening it up to more customers is the same thing Google did with Gmail, among so many other "sinking ships" that have opened their gates to more customers. More apps are adding in iAds since its launch, and more iphones are being sold (*cough*Verizon). Apple had artificially restricted their own market for iAds during launch, and are STILL leaving a rather steep barrier to entry.

How is anyone interpreting this as an indication that iAds have failed? You'd need a lot more information than "we have more ad slots to fill" to make that sort of judgement.
 
Apple has apparently reduced that number to $500,000 in order to entice new advertisers unwilling to spend a full $1 million to come on board.

Maybe if I go to the Apple Store and whine enough, they'll give me a 13" MBA for $650.
 
Not really a surprising announcement. iAds has been a flop from the moment Steve mentioned it on stage. Its too much faf for the ad agencies for an unguaranteed return. If people don't like the Advert App, they wont buy into it.

I still think AdMob and Mobclix do a much better job than Apple...Apple is clearly never going to make a good advertising company...leave it to the pro's!
 
I'd like to see iAd succeed because it is a great way to monetize an app for the developer (really easy).... But I think Apple misfired on iAd on the backend and this change is a good start to improving it. Apple needs to lower the barriers for entry into the iAd program.

I can only imagine that Steve Jobs does not want advertisement in apps that he considers to be ugly. But to have Apple make it so expensive and so difficult to get an iAd designed and approved was a bit misguided.

I would almost categorize iAd as one of Apple's "hobby" projects. If they keep it around it will require some tinkering to get right.
 
Most people fail to understand the true success of iAds...As a developer of a small news app, with about 10,000 unique users a day...I used iAds as the primary ad platform, and backed it up with Admob.

I found that serving up iAds gave the following results:

- About 40% - 50% fill rate.
- About 0.15% click through rate
- About $5 eCPM

I found that serving up Admob adds gave the following results:
- about 98% fill rate
- about .22% click through rate
- about $0.17 eCPM

The BIG difference here is eCPM...because Admob will pretty much advertise anyone, they pay ALOT less...so as a developer, I generally made about 20 times more per month using iAds...so as a developer, I think iAds is a HUGE success...I make MORE money for LESS users...you can't beat that...

One of the reasons for this is Apple being strict about who gets in, and what kind of ads they can display...this level of control is fine by me as long as Apple pays MORE...

So just because people think that iAds has been a failure because of complaints about high entry fees, and lower fill rates than competitors, you have to look and the entire picture...and what I have found is that it has been more profitable than admob for most developers I know...and that equals SUCCESS
 
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Why haven't they slashed the price of the current model iPhone by half? Because it sells. You don't cut your price by half when you don't have to. Clearly they feel the need to do such a drastic thing and likely it's because it's failing. It may be more profitable for those who use it but it has not been as profitable as Apple would like. 500k is better than 0k.
 
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