Over at Boston agency Hill Holliday’s blog, Ilya Vedrasko and some of his colleagues share what they learned after Apple reps came to the agency to talk about the iAd, the new mobile ad platform. Adam Cahill, head of the digital media group, had this to say:
Three things strike me as interesting:
Pricing: Apple is going to sell 100% of the ads. Apple doesn’t do cheap, they do premium. So I’d expect buyers to become trained very quickly that this is expensive inventory, and I’ll be interested to see how this might impact pricing across mobile, and even across digital channels more broadly.
Format Innovation: I love that Apple is taking the stance that mobile is a different medium that needs unique ad formats. The fact that mobile to date has largely been about tiny banners has been disappointing, especially because no one is very happy with banners as an ad format even when they’re big.
Apps vs. Browser: By giving 60% of the ad revenue back to developers, Apple is clearly trying to ensure their continued leadership position within apps. The more developers make from their efforts, the more innovation we’ll see in apps, the more people will use them, the more indispensable Apple becomes. It seems that Apple wants to make sure the future of mobile is app-based as opposed to browser-based.
As an iPhone user, I’m just overwhelmed by the number of apps that exist out there. It’s no surprise that many of them don’t make money for their developers. Clearly, this is one remedy to that situation. But I’m not sure how many users will willingly click on ads. They may just be another distraction on the device, and add to the overall clutter.
