Starting Tuesday, developers can pay to be featured on the App Store Today curated page and at the bottom of competitors' app product pages.
Ads are appearing in more places in the App Store
Apple has been exploring new ad placement opportunities across the App Store. Ad expansion began with search ads showing content after a search is performed, then moved to ads appearing in the search tab even before a search is made.
Now, Apple has expanded advertising to two more sections of the App Store. First, the Today tab where curated news, interviews, and app collections show up will have a large ad slot.
Second, developers can pay to appear in the "You May Also Like" section at the bottom of app product pages. For example, AccuWeather could show an ad at the bottom of the Carrot Weather product page.
Advertising within the App Store has proven to be a lucrative pursuit for Apple. Developers can pay to be shown in and around their competitor's apps, but the methodology behind what app is seen when isn't always clear.
Apple's heavy push into advertising has been met with backlash from its customer base. The company's stance on privacy seems to directly contradict this move into advertising -- a business that heavily relies on user data.