Apple is bringing ads to the Today page of the App Store. The introduction will allow developers to expand their reach in promoting their apps and make it easier to discover more of what the App Store can offer.
Before this change, Apple only offered two ad options on the App Store. In the Search tab and within the Search results page, these ad placements offered a successful track for developers to find users who may be interested in their apps.
The first new ad opportunity can be found in the Today tab, the front page of the App Store. Alongside the daily editorial content, developers can promote their apps here. These ads are clearly marked as ads, completely distinguishable from the normal editorial stories.
Another new ad placement is available directly in the app product pages towards the bottom of the page beneath the “You Might Also Like” section. These too will be clearly marked as ads.
According to Apple, “Apple Search Ads provides opportunities for developers of all sizes to grow their business. Like our other advertising offerings, these new ad placements are built upon the same foundation – they will only contain content from apps’ approved App Store product pages, and will adhere to the same rigorous privacy standards.”
Privacy is still a crucial focus for Apple’s App Store. The same strict guidelines and policies applied across all of Apple’s platforms and services will be enforced with these new ads. As always, users are given the option to choose whether they want to enable personalized ads when they first open Apple’s Apps, including the App Store, Apple News, and Apple Stocks.
Also, Apple continues to refrain from showing personalized ads to users under the age of 18, to users with an Apple ID associated with a minor under 13, or to managed accounts. Helping to prevent hyper-targeting, Apple also limits developers from targeting ads to segments and demographics with less than 5,000 other similar users.
Additionally, Apple avoids using factors like religion, politics, or health to target users, asserting that the company can deliver highly effective ads without the need to track individual customers. Furthermore, Apple’s ads are never associated with an individual Apple ID.
The new ad placements will be tested with limited developers soon.
Source: MacRumors
