Apple has reportedly made substantial changes to its struggling iAd advertising platform. Changes include reducing the minimum campaign amount, increasing developer revenue share and adjusting its fees.
AppleInsider reporter Josh Ong:
Little more than a month after former Adobe executive Todd Teresi joined Apple to head up the iAd division, the company’s advertising service is undergoing a drastic shakeup, AdAge claimed on Tuesday.
Advertisers can now reportedly spend as little as $100,000 to initiate mobile campaigns, down from a $300,000 threshold noted last July. The new minimum represents just a fraction of the lofty $1 million minimum when the service launched in 2010 and the $500,000 entry price from last February.
Apple is said to have also increased the developer cut of ad revenues to 70 percent, up from 60 percent. The report says it is hoped the money will compensate app makers for “lower ad rates” and is an attempt to woo more developers to include iAd in their apps.
The iPhone maker has also reportedly changed their fee system for advertisers. It is said they have abandoned per-click fees and now only charges a fixed rate for every 1,000 ad impressions.
Apple made waves when it first introduced iAd, attracting several big name ad campaigns. The initial excitement has since faded, along with revenues.
Late last year, The Wall Street Journal called iAd a disaster, citing advertiser response as “tepid.” An IDC analyst told the publication that iAd would “fade into the background” over time.
Even though Apple has been quiet about iAd in recent months, it did revamp its iAd producer software last November, adding animation tools, page objects and code-editing improvements in an effort to drum up support for the service.
