Apple sunk $38M on Apple Watch TV ads since March, report says
Apple is campaigning hard to trot Apple Watch in front of potential buyers, with a report on Thursday estimating the company has spent some $38 million on television ads alone.
Launching a completely new device platform is difficult even for the world's largest company, but Apple is applying its vast resources to buy maximum exposure in hopes of acquainting customers with Watch. According to recent estimates from research firm iSpot.tv, cited by Reuters, since the March 9 "Spring Forward" event, Apple has spent $38 million on its "Watch Reimagined" TV campaign.
By comparison, Apple put in $42 million over the trailing five months on commercials touting iPhone 6 and 6 Plus hardware.
Looking at the slots Apple bought offers insight into the demographics it's targeting for Apple Watch early adopters. The report said that Apple's commercial has aired more than 300 times, almost half of which showed up in primetime blocking. Examples include AMC's "The Walking Dead," NBC's "The Voice" and the NCAA basketball championship tournament Apple recently ramped up advertising for Monday's championship game between Duke and Wisconsin, ensuring a good swath of younger consumers got eyes-on time.
In addition to paid ads, Apple is conducting a guerrilla campaign in partnership with high-profile celebrities who show off Watch via social media and public gatherings. These "in the wild" spottings drum up interest in Watch, but position the product as a lust object. Just this week Pharrell Williams was seen wearing what appeared to be a rose gold Apple Watch Edition on "The Voice," later posting a short video to Instagram showing off his Watch's Mickey Mouse watch face.
Apple's own executives are also getting in on the action, as CEO Tim Cook sported a Watch when he showed up to support his alma mater Duke at the aforementioned NCAA championship. Prior to that, SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue explained Apple Watch's Apple Pay capabilities at a Golden State Warriors basketball game last month.
Launching a completely new device platform is difficult even for the world's largest company, but Apple is applying its vast resources to buy maximum exposure in hopes of acquainting customers with Watch. According to recent estimates from research firm iSpot.tv, cited by Reuters, since the March 9 "Spring Forward" event, Apple has spent $38 million on its "Watch Reimagined" TV campaign.
By comparison, Apple put in $42 million over the trailing five months on commercials touting iPhone 6 and 6 Plus hardware.
Looking at the slots Apple bought offers insight into the demographics it's targeting for Apple Watch early adopters. The report said that Apple's commercial has aired more than 300 times, almost half of which showed up in primetime blocking. Examples include AMC's "The Walking Dead," NBC's "The Voice" and the NCAA basketball championship tournament Apple recently ramped up advertising for Monday's championship game between Duke and Wisconsin, ensuring a good swath of younger consumers got eyes-on time.
In addition to paid ads, Apple is conducting a guerrilla campaign in partnership with high-profile celebrities who show off Watch via social media and public gatherings. These "in the wild" spottings drum up interest in Watch, but position the product as a lust object. Just this week Pharrell Williams was seen wearing what appeared to be a rose gold Apple Watch Edition on "The Voice," later posting a short video to Instagram showing off his Watch's Mickey Mouse watch face.
Apple's own executives are also getting in on the action, as CEO Tim Cook sported a Watch when he showed up to support his alma mater Duke at the aforementioned NCAA championship. Prior to that, SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue explained Apple Watch's Apple Pay capabilities at a Golden State Warriors basketball game last month.
Comments
Absolutely impossible to know what the real figures are unless one is actually in charge of the advertising budget at Apple, but they're also getting plenty of "free" advertising from the usual sources, such as news organizations, magazines, bloggers, etc. The amount spend on advertising isn't important at this stage considering the coverage.
[VIDEO]
It'd be nice to see some comparisons with this, and the ad budgets for the iPhone launch and iPad launch.
Oldest iPhone figure I can find is 2008, and Apple spent $97.5 million on iPhone advertising. 2010 was $346.6 million, that's for iPad and iPhone combined.
In 2007 Apple spent $467 million total for advertising ALL their products.
It'd be nice to see some comparisons with this, and the ad budgets for the iPhone launch and iPad launch.
Oldest iPhone figure I can find is 2008, and Apple spent $97.5 million on iPhone advertising. 2010 was $346.6 million, that's for iPad and iPhone combined.
In 2007 Apple spent $467 million total for advertising ALL their products.
If the sales are there, the money spent is completely worth it.
Source?
And according to a thread on MacRumors the Sydney store at least is allowing you to try on different combinations than the preset models but the space black SS model is only sold with the link bracelet.
Oh wow I haven't seen one of those yet.
Oh wow I haven't seen one of those yet.
They've been everywhere on AI. " src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />
I've seen some in Flipboard as well.
Oh I guess I was thinking of TV. Yeah I've seen them all over the www. :rolleyes:
Nice unbiased review
http://www.theverge.com/a/apple-watch-review
"No doubt it's a sign of desperation. The fate of this Watch will determine if Tim Cook can go it alone without the training wheels, or if Apple's best days are behind it." /s
For a second there, I thought BF was unbanned.
To hum and people like him, anything that Apple does or doesn't do relating to the Watch is a sign of desperation and the fact that they already know it will be an epic failure- whether it's spending money, or not spending money.
Nice unbiased review
http://www.theverge.com/a/apple-watch-review
So, what exactly makes that review "unbiased"? What the **** does that even mean? Every review by definition is subjective. Or are you saying it's unbiased because it just so happens to be one of the most negative reviews out there? How convenient.
Oh, nevermind. Just checked your shitty, one-note Apple Watch bashing posting history. Too damned predictable.
What a gem you are. You should tell us again how much you hate the (unreleased) Apple Watch. You know, just in case someone on this forum missed your last 67,028 times.
I know. Since when did unbiased mean highly critical and very negative? :rolleyes:
Nice. Must be a 'consumerized' version of the same software or setup they use in their keynotes.
There's something about every new product introduction by Apple that brings out the worst of the worst. I've come to the conclusion that these people are a bunch of losers who have a hard time dealing with someone else's success. It's as though someone else doing well diminishes them. It happened with the iMac, then the iPod, then the iPhone, then the iPad, and now the AppleWatch. Pathetic.
But we know what the outcome will be, a couple of years from now.