While
Apple froze third-party advertising cookies on its platform, resulting in the first revenue dip of Facebook since its inception, the App Store application shop has been showing ads in its search results as well as the respective tab for a while now.
Brace yourselves, because these ads are now coming throughout the App Store, starting with the Today homepage tab, but they could also appear on each individual app page in the You Might Also Like section. The advertisement will allow developers to be promoting their own apps and Apple its own stuff as it sees fit according to its own privacy ground rules.
The visible ads will be denoted as such and Apple won’t be targeting users below eighteen for personalized advertising, plus it won’t employ granular targeting by using your sensitive data like the other two ad behemoths Facebook and
Google. That’s all part of Apple’s privacy and transparency policy, as it said in a dedicated statement:
Apple Search Ads provides opportunities for developers of all sizes to grow their business. Like our other advertising offerings, these new ad placements are built upon the same foundation—they will only contain content from apps’ approved App Store product pages, and will adhere to the same rigorous privacy standards.
App Store developers are also happy with the ad development, as Ron Schneidermann of the app AllTrails states that “Apple Search Ads helped us attract new, more engaged customers across markets. We rely on Apple Search Ads for cost-effective customer acquisition – it’s a critical component of our growth strategy. As they become available, we plan to invest in new placements to reach even more customers on the App Store and continue to drive our business growth.”
As for when will the new App Store advertising spree happen in earnest, Apple only said that the ad locations are now in their alpha state and it will “soon” start rolling out the testing phase, so don’t be surprised if ads appear on your
iPhone application store in tabs where there were none of those pesky little nuggets were present before Apple’s move.
