Apple looking to expand its nascent advertising business

Apple may be planning on expanding its current first-party advertising offerings with the addition of a demand-side platform, recent job listings suggest.

The Cupertino tech giant is currently seeking a senior manager for a demand-side platform (DSP), according to a posting seen by Digiday. A demand-side platform is an automated system allowing advertisers to bid on ads.

According to the job listing, Apple is looking for a candidate that has experience with mobile-centric DSPs and optimizing "mobile campaigns using measurement and attribution." The role will be asked to "drive the design of the most privacy-forward, sophisticated demand side platform possible."

Although Apple has butted heads with advertising-centric businesses like Facebook in the past, the iPhone maker actually has its own nascent advertising business. It includes offerings like Search Ads on the App Store, as well as ads in Apple News.

While Apple's ads business is small, there are some obvious signs that Apple is looking to expand its advertising footprint. Back in May, Apple tapped executive Todd Teresi to take on more advertising responsibility since the company's ad business was, at the time, "big enough to live on its own."

Some outside advertising executives have complained about Apple's current ad platforms, calling Search Ads "expensive" and "dreadful." The company will soon test new ad placements that show up in other places across the App Store — and not just during searches.

Apple has received criticism for expanding its advertising business while clamping down on the ability for third-party companies to track users for ad purposes. The company has denied allegations that its privacy features were meant to boost its own growing ads segment.

The company also touts the privacy benefits of its own systems over rivals. Apple avoids hyper-targeting of individuals and never uses any sensitive user data to target ads, for example.