iAd For Developers - Not That Great?

Maybe iAd for Developers - the program introduced by Apple which allows developers to earn cash through clickable ads placed within their apps - isn't as great as we initially thought. The company is promoting it as "a great way for developers to advertise their own apps to millions of users across the iAd Network." Indeed, it seemed to be a way for small developers to benefit from the iAd platform. However, a recent report by MacRumors claims that iAd for Developers isn't that great, according to one developer who's had personal experience with the service. David Smith of Cross Forward Consulting has stated that iAd for Developers "is likely ineffective for driving sales," and that his campaign quite simply didn't work out:

From August 19 through August 25 I ran a campaign on the newly released iAd for Developers platform for our Audiobooks Premium app. The results were, to say the least, disappointing. For all the promise of selling your apps directly within an advertisement, it appears that so far this is not a viable way to drive traffic and create an economically sustainable promotion. For $1,251.75, my campaign generated a total of 84 downloads, thus a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) of ~$15. For a $0.99 app, those economics just can't work out.

Instead of making money, Dave suffered a terrible loss - and, for small-time developers, this is a risk hardly worth taking. You can check out a table explaining Dave's experience with the platform below.

We'd be really interested to hear from any developers who've tried Apple's iAd for Developers program. Has anybody benefitted from it? If so, feel free to post your experiences in the comments box below! And, for a full report on Dave's experiences with iAd for Developers, be sure to take a look at his site.

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