Apple News Third-Party Advertising Might Be Changing Dramatically
Publishers who utilize Apple News to deliver content may soon find it easier to make money. Under the current model, some publications are reluctant to adopt the Apple News platform because of how tightly Cupertino controls advertising, but it looks like that might be changing in the near future. According to sources speaking anonymously to Advertising Age, Apple News third-party advertising appears to be opening up to more technology.
Delivering Apple News Third-Party Advertising Today
Cupertino has only recently begun allowing third-party advertising tags in Apple News. On iOS 10.3 and above, publishers can use tags to serve third-party Standard, Double, Large, MREC, Interstitial, IAB 300×250, and IAB 728×90 ads. The catch is that the only supported vendor of those ads is Celtra.
That’s pretty limiting in an age when publishers already have their own advertising networks set up. To be fair, it sounds like other vendors can be used, but the ad tags won’t be seen in the Workbench interface used to test publication before it’s pushed out to the reading audience. That means things could go terribly awry when the publisher takes their content live.
The Possible Future of Apple News Third-Party Advertising
Apple has historically been pretty tight-fisted about ad delivery, wanting to maintain quite a bit of control over the platform. If the anonymous publishers who spoke with Advertising Age are correct, that’s set to change. Apple News is supposedly going to become less of a walled-off island. Top media partners will be able to use the platform along with their own technology to fill the ad space in their content.
This means publishers will be able to use all types of ad formats, including standard banner ads and videos, from their own technology instead of Cupertino’s “favored child.” Sites like Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers is very popular, and the sources claim they will finally be able to use it to deliver ads into Apple News.
Huge Benefits to Publishers
This possible shift in Apple’s philosophy towards Apple News third-party advertising would be a huge boon to publishers. A top publishing executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Advertising Age that the current method takes “a lot of additional effort.” If those publishers can begin using the same advertising technology that fuels their websites, that makes the workload less onerous.
In the long run, this could be an excellent move for Apple News. Allowing more choices in Apple News third-party advertising would mean more publishers might be willing to launch their content on the platform. Apple News is already attracting millions of readers on iPhone and iPad, and adding more publishers to the mix would only make it better.
