Mikey Campbell
Apple on Thursday officially started accepting programatic, or automated, iAd buys for iTunes Radio and rolled out a new user targeting feature called Customer Match.
Advertisers can now purchase iTunes Radio ads through an automated process in Apple's enhanced iAd Workbench tool, reports AdAge. Previously, brands had to go through iAd's sales team.
Apple's newly implemented system is an extension of recent additions to iAd, the company's in-house mobile advertising platform, which started programatic ad sales in November.
Along with programatic purchasing, Apple introduced Customer Match, an ad-targeting tool that matches IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) data to better segment device users. Marketers can use the system to cross-reference their own anonymized IDFA data with Apple's directly from iAd Workbench.
Apple is making privacy a priority with Customer Match, the publication said, noting neither advertiser nor Apple has access to specific customer pairings. Apple device owners can opt out of ad tracking services altogether in an iPhone or iPad's Settings menu. The theme is consistent with statements from CEO Tim Cook, who is a vocal advocate of consumer data privacy and has repeatedly said his company is not in the business of selling customer information.
Today's report comes on the heels of rumors that Apple would soon allow third-party ad agencies access to customer information for promotion targeting.
Apple's iAd move is timed perfectly with a spike in streaming music revenues. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and Apple's Beats Music raked in $1.87 billion in the U.S. during 2014, a 29-percent bump year-over-year.
The streaming music industry is highly competitive and Apple has only recently started an earnest push for marketshare. Beats Music is central to these ambitions and Apple is reportedly working towards rebranding the service under the iTunes umbrella.
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23 Comments
Looking forward to iTunes Radio coming to the U.K.
I wonder how this feature will work on iTunes Radio in the UK. Oh, wait... That's right, Apple have forgotten about us.
This is similar to the idea that I had about Apple using iAd for targeted advertising for Apple TV.
Apple luring TV content owners for streaming service with promise of more open data sharing - report - Page 2
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/185280/apple-luring-tv-content-owners-for-streaming-service-with-promise-of-more-open-data-sharing-report/40
For Apple TV multi-channel subscriptions to be cheap, they have to be subsidized by advertisers, which will require an opt-in option by the viewer to accept a lower ad-supported subscription rate, or pay a higher no-ad subscription rate.
Advertisers would love to target their ads to the right audience; and I think that those who have specific interests, wouldn't mind seeing advertisements of things related to what they are interested in.
These advertisers can either sponsor certain types of programs that draw a specific demographic, or pay Apple in advance to display their ads to a specific type of customer who meets a demographic/psychographic profile, and Apple routes the ad to the open-sponsor programs that the Apple TV customers are watching, and gets a percentage of the ad fee, and transfer the rest of the funds from the advertiser, to the open-sponsor program that displays the ad.
If these advertisements are Direct Response ads, where the user can order the product directly from their Apple TV, then Apple can process the order, collect the money, and get a small percentage of the sale.
Hence the need for iTunes Match - no ads.
I wonder how this feature will work on iTunes Radio in the UK. Oh, wait... That's right, Apple have forgotten about us.
I wonder how many times we'll have to see tired complaints like this.