iAd – Apple Dropped the Advertising Bomb on Google!

April 9th, 2010

With all the excitement and press going on about the iPad, you may have missed the big announcement yesterday. But if you are involved in any way with Internet marketing, this is a HUGE one. In my opinion, it is the biggest news we have heard this year in online marketing.

Apple has created it’s own advertising platform for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. It is called iAd. This is not just a method for showing ads. It is a full-blown advertising platform.

This has the potential to be as big or bigger than Google AdWords!

Google-VS-Apple Think Google AdWords – for apps.

Does Google AdWords makes a lot of money? Uh… Yea! Facts are, 98% of all revenue for Google comes from their AdWords advertising program. In other words, it financially supports EVERYTHING Google does… Google search, Gmail, Docs, Apps, Wave, Chrome, Blogger, Picasa, News, Books, Maps, Earth & Mars, Buzz, and everything else.

Google has a market value of 200 Billion USD! Almost ALL of their money comes from Google AdWords. It’s why Microsoft is promoting their search engine (Bing) so hard. They want a piece of that huge money.

But Apple has taken a different approach. Instead of gunning for advertising on SEARCH, they have built an entirely different advertising platform. Their advertising platform will be for APPS, which is even bigger and more profitable than SEARCH.

IAd Steve Jobs thinks so.
(He may be right.)

If you have not watched the Apple 4 Event yesterday, you need to – right now. You will hear him speak very directly about how the future is mobile. And on the mobile phone, it’s not about SEARCH, it’s about APPS. (He’s right.)

Click here and go directly to the 45:00 mark.

In it, Steve Jobs does the math to show the opportunity for 1 BILLION ad impressions per day, using his new platform. Why? Google is known to perform 1 BILLION searches per day.

Coincidence? I doubt it.

With this new platform, instead of competing with Google AdWords, Apple has made their own platform that will be just as large and just as profitable.

Think Facebook or Twitter have an opportunity to monetize with Ads? What Apple is doing will blow it away. Keep watching the video and notice the interaction and video that is involved in the ad. This thing is HUGE.

I’m not an Apple fan-boy.

For my regular readers, you know I’m not a big huge fan of Apple products. However, I do love my iPod Touch. (I also want an iPad. They look cool.)

But this advertising platform will be the primary advertising tool for iPhones, iPods, and iPads. It is a HUGE opportunity. I strongly suggest that you start paying attention to this space if you have not already.

If you are a blogger, content creator, online marketer, or sell anything online… This is your chance. Don’t blow it.

If you don’t have a simple iPhone app already, go make one immediately. You can use a simple service such as Mobile Roady to get going quickly and cheaply. Start getting users and be ready to either put ads on your app or get people to download your app by advertising it on other apps.

For those of us that look back longingly at the “good ole days” of getting very cheap advertising on Google AdWords (and Overture), this is your chance. Get in early to this new platform and it will likely start out cheap. Capitalize early, because it won’t last long. Prices will rise fast.

http://www.TheJungleMap.com Corey Creed

Oh, and I forgot… Listen carefully at the 46:00 mark. Steve says: “This is where the opportunity is… Not in SEARCH. In APPS!” Wow! He may have something here. Do you believe him? Is this as big as I think it is?
http://www.WebBusinessFreedom.com Brandon Uttley

Corey,

Thanks for your insights on this. With nearly every one of us with a cell phone in our pocket at all times (and increasingly smart phones), mobile is indeed the future. And anyone with an iPhone or iPod Touch knows how easy it is to build apps all day long.
http://www.mycprpros.com Shannon Miller

I absolutely agree this will be huge.The users that this will reach will only grow exponentially once Verizon and other cell companies get rights to the iPhone.
http://www.appleadv.com Zack Self

Corey,
Good assessment. I happened to be following the live blogs during the event. The reporters missed it, IMHO, but you didn’t. Flash is dead to advertisers and developers. It would behoove them both — as Apple seems to be the only company taking new ground — to get immersed in the platform and the opportunity is clearly suggests. Good post.
http://www.socialliar.com Brian Donnelly

I really enjoyed this article. I completely agree that this can be an interesting game changer to traditional inbound search efforts. My only worry is aggressive ad dollars pouring into this and having iAd become just as dismissible as traditional banner ads. The Gordon Gekko’s of the ad world could kill this before it’s even a reality.
Pingback: iAd – Hey Google, Let The Mobile Advertising Wars Begin! | Red Vw Bus
http://www.digitalprecisionnc.com Chris Roberts

I wonder how long it will be before Google responds and modifies it’s AdWords to run on it’s Android mobile OS. If it is successful for Apple, then Google won’t be far behind. I know Google has been modifiying their ad for viewing on mobile devices, but i don’t believe they are targeting the Android apps like Apple is talking about doing with the iPhone, iPad, iTouch apps.
http://www.TheJungleMap.com Corey Creed

Thanks for all your comments. I’m glad to see that so many of you agree that this is a big deal. I’m not sure why more of the media is not talking about it. The idea of iPhones showing up on Verizon does really blow this out. They say it may happen in about six months, but I doubt it. They seem to say that every year.
http://www.TheJungleMap.com Corey Creed

The idea of this platform being overwhelmed by big advertisers is possible, I guess. But my guess is that Apple will use some of the same principles of AdWords to try to favor the smaller, more targeted advertisers. But we’ll see. The real winners in this platform will be the early adopters, the app developers, and Apple themselves. Imagine Apple watching advertisers pay like crazy and developers making better and better apps in order to make money from those advertisers. What will Apple do? Sit back, watch, and collect 40%. Sounds like AdWords to me. (Now go buy some Apple stock before anyone else catches on.)
http://www.bnrbranding.com/ Brent Friar

While I do agree that this is a BIG deal, to say that it is bigger than AdWords is a little premature. Think about it for a minute. iAd has a large, but limited audience since it is targeted strictly to apps within Apple products. This necessarily means that they have a smaller potential audience than AdWords has. Also keep in mind that AdWords will still work for your internet viewing pleasure on Apple products.

Look at it this way – Facebook has WAY more users than people own Apple products and they likely collect more demographic information from their users than any network. Did Facebook ads kill AdWords?

That being said, this does present a huge potential opportunity for marketers to get in on the ground floor while it’s hot. I just think this will be another way to augment current online marketing initiatives rather than a replacement.
http://www.TheJungleMap.com Corey Creed

True. It certainly is not bigger than AdWords. But I still think it has that potential. Facebook ads have been absolutely lousy for most everyone I talk to. There are some very specific uses that they may work well for, but overall they just don’t work well.

Could there eventually be more iPhones, iPods, and iPads than computers? Possibly. There will be more cell phones than computers very soon. Many people (esp teenagers) use their cell phone more often than a computer. Will iPhones soon be available on other networks, including Verizon? Will the iAd network extend beyond iPhones and Apple products eventually?

After all, Google AdWords started on Google. But it seems to be everywhere these days. Those are some thoughts. Again, I’m not an Apple Fanboy, but this thing has a LOT of potential. Mark my words.
Mark Peery

Hey Corey,
Very interesting article. There is certainly tremendous pontial especially for makers of apps. It seems as though Google will also be targeting all android phones and especially their G-phone with similar ads. Apple as usual is pointing in a new direction with a lot of room for pulling in the advertising dollar.
http://www.acmusings.blogger.com Adrienne Craighead

Hi Corey -

Thanks for sharing the video clip and your take on the future. I have to agree with you that Apple smells the opportunity and it’s going to be huge.

However, I believe that the advertisers that purchase impressions through iAd will ultimately find that their best efforts are when they reach the RIGHT people with RELEVANT information (and that is why iAds will never surpass AdWords.)

IMHO the reason that AdWords is the behemoth that it is – is because it provides options to consumers at the moment of searching for something. If I’m using an app on my i-phone and happen to see an ad for Burger King – that’s fine. But it also puts this advertising into the same category of “traditional” ads (like the interruptions that happen on TV, radio, print, even digital display ads on targeted websites.) The messages may be perfect for me and they may be very very relevant to the content I’m interacting with (for example – if I’m using an app to see what internal temp I need to grill mahi mahi to and an offer for my local Red Lobster comes up – that’s pretty darn targeted) but it’s not the same thing as if I google: “coupons for seafood restaurant in Charlotte.”

Does that make sense?
http://www.TheJungleMap.com Corey Creed

I agree with you 100% Adrienne. I call that the difference between Position Marketing (search engines) and Partnership Marketing. Very true. It’s definitely not the same. In fact, Twitter and Facebook have the same problem. They are serving up ads to people that are not specifically looking for something. Thanks for your comment.