WHAT IS IAD?
iAd is the mobile advertising platform for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that you may not have actually heard of. Believe it or not, it was actually launched way back in 2010. Its main rival is AdMob, Google’s mobile advertising platform. Fun fact: Google outbid Apple to purchase this company. The debate is out for whether iAd has a higher ECPM than AdMob – some people find it does, others find little difference, and others find that it fluctuates. (Oh, and for reference, ECPM means effective cost per thousand impressions.) But iAd only had a 2.5{06e29518e582b1cc2da09f8f2ea316dadc41c520023bcca83a4deb5e6ad0a3c6} share of mobile advertising in 2014. There’s a couple of possible reasons for this: iAd only works on iOS, while AdMob works on Android and iOS – and there’s hell of a lot more Android users out there anyway. So, you have less reach. Also, mobile ads normally tend to be cheaper, so they’re great for small businesses or start-ups – but at the start, the minimum spend for an iAd campaign was $1 million. Businesses weren’t exactly queuing up for it like it was the next iPhone. In addition, Apple had full control of the creative process, so their advertising environment had consistent visuals. Not necessarily good if your business wants to stand out from the crowd. Fortunately, this has since changed. Apple slashed and slashed the price, so you can now start a campaign for just $50 – and you’ll have full creative reign. Apple has opened the iAd workbench to anyone with an Apple ID – yes that probably means you! It’s easier than ever to use. And iOS9 has some implications for iAd. As you may know, iOS9 is going to include ad-blocking – but only of certain kinds of ad. Native ads can’t be blocked, and neither can pre-roll video ads, but the others can. Lots of people got rather upset about this, but there’s a point to it. Apple wants its users to have a cleaner, sleeker experience that isn’t polluted by ugly ads all over the place. AdMob is probably going to suffer. But what about iAd? It will be interesting to see if iAd, already arguably the best way to reach iOS users, becomes even more integrated into the Apple ecosystem. It’s certainly something to watch. Thanks for reading our ‘What is iAd’ article – we hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to visit our Digital Marketing Blog for all the latest happenings in digital marketing. We’re Digital Clicks, a digital marketing agency in Cambridge with clients across the whole country. We specialise in SEO in Cambridge and across the rest of the UK. For more information, any help or advice for your campaign or to know more on how we work, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of the team. Error: Contact form not found.