Apple shifts to internal advertising sales for Apple News

Apple has started to sell advertising on Apple News by itself, a report claims, with the company handling ad inventory sales for the service on its own.

Advertising in Apple Services isn't entirely new, as it has done so for Apple News and the App Store for quite a while. However, it has apparently recently changed tactic when it comes to Apple News ad spots.

While it has previously used third-party ad vendors to sell Apple News ads, sources of Axios claim that Apple is instead handling that task for itself.

The change to an in-house ad sales approach will offer Apple more revenue potential, which was apparently limited by using external vendors. It could also help increase revenue for the publishers of content viewable on the free version of Apple News, too.

Under Apple's ad sales, Apple has a 30% cut of ad revenues, while publishers receive a 70% cut. The actual amount publishers receive depends on the engagement of content.

The switch-up also includes offering new ad units within Apple News, which provide more options to advertisers. Banner placements and video ads in 17 different formats, including carousel ads, are being planned.

It goes beyond standard advertising, as premium sponsorships of event coverage, like the Met Gala, could be sold to advertisers as soon as 2025. Advertisers could also sponsor specific topic feeds within Apple News.

The change won't entirely freeze out third-party sellers. Services such as Taboola could still handle ad sales for spots that Apple failed to fill by its own ad team.

That team has been growing in size steadily for months, the report adds, with there currently dozens of advertising roles listed on its careers site.

Advertising is a growing lucrative element for Apple's Services arm, and could be even bigger. Current estimates is for Apple to reach about $10 billion in advertising revenue for 2024.