Apple debuts programatic iAd buys on iTunes Radio, 'Customer Match' demographic targeting
Apple on Thursday officially started accepting programatic, or automated, iAd buys for iTunes Radio and rolled out a new user targeting feature called Customer Match.
Advertisers can now purchase iTunes Radio ads through an automated process in Apple's enhanced iAd Workbench tool, reports AdAge. Previously, brands had to go through iAd's sales team.
Apple's newly implemented system is an extension of recent additions to iAd, the company's in-house mobile advertising platform, which started programatic ad sales in November.
Along with programatic purchasing, Apple introduced Customer Match, an ad-targeting tool that matches IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) data to better segment device users. Marketers can use the system to cross-reference their own anonymized IDFA data with Apple's directly from iAd Workbench.
Apple is making privacy a priority with Customer Match, the publication said, noting neither advertiser nor Apple has access to specific customer pairings. Apple device owners can opt out of ad tracking services altogether in an iPhone or iPad's Settings menu. The theme is consistent with statements from CEO Tim Cook, who is a vocal advocate of consumer data privacy and has repeatedly said his company is not in the business of selling customer information.
Today's report comes on the heels of rumors that Apple would soon allow third-party ad agencies access to customer information for promotion targeting.
Apple's iAd move is timed perfectly with a spike in streaming music revenues. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and Apple's Beats Music raked in $1.87 billion in the U.S. during 2014, a 29-percent bump year-over-year.
The streaming music industry is highly competitive and Apple has only recently started an earnest push for marketshare. Beats Music is central to these ambitions and Apple is reportedly working towards rebranding the service under the iTunes umbrella.
Advertisers can now purchase iTunes Radio ads through an automated process in Apple's enhanced iAd Workbench tool, reports AdAge. Previously, brands had to go through iAd's sales team.
Apple's newly implemented system is an extension of recent additions to iAd, the company's in-house mobile advertising platform, which started programatic ad sales in November.
Along with programatic purchasing, Apple introduced Customer Match, an ad-targeting tool that matches IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) data to better segment device users. Marketers can use the system to cross-reference their own anonymized IDFA data with Apple's directly from iAd Workbench.
Apple is making privacy a priority with Customer Match, the publication said, noting neither advertiser nor Apple has access to specific customer pairings. Apple device owners can opt out of ad tracking services altogether in an iPhone or iPad's Settings menu. The theme is consistent with statements from CEO Tim Cook, who is a vocal advocate of consumer data privacy and has repeatedly said his company is not in the business of selling customer information.
Today's report comes on the heels of rumors that Apple would soon allow third-party ad agencies access to customer information for promotion targeting.
Apple's iAd move is timed perfectly with a spike in streaming music revenues. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and Apple's Beats Music raked in $1.87 billion in the U.S. during 2014, a 29-percent bump year-over-year.
The streaming music industry is highly competitive and Apple has only recently started an earnest push for marketshare. Beats Music is central to these ambitions and Apple is reportedly working towards rebranding the service under the iTunes umbrella.
Comments
Looking forward to iTunes Radio coming to the U.K.
This is similar to the idea that I had about Apple using iAd for targeted advertising for Apple TV.
Apple luring TV content owners for streaming service with promise of more open data sharing - report - Page 2
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/185280/apple-luring-tv-content-owners-for-streaming-service-with-promise-of-more-open-data-sharing-report/40
For Apple TV multi-channel subscriptions to be cheap, they have to be subsidized by advertisers, which will require an opt-in option by the viewer to accept a lower ad-supported subscription rate, or pay a higher no-ad subscription rate.
Advertisers would love to target their ads to the right audience; and I think that those who have specific interests, wouldn't mind seeing advertisements of things related to what they are interested in.
These advertisers can either sponsor certain types of programs that draw a specific demographic, or pay Apple in advance to display their ads to a specific type of customer who meets a demographic/psychographic profile, and Apple routes the ad to the open-sponsor programs that the Apple TV customers are watching, and gets a percentage of the ad fee, and transfer the rest of the funds from the advertiser, to the open-sponsor program that displays the ad.
If these advertisements are Direct Response ads, where the user can order the product directly from their Apple TV, then Apple can process the order, collect the money, and get a small percentage of the sale.
I wonder how this feature will work on iTunes Radio in the UK. Oh, wait... That's right, Apple have forgotten about us.
I wonder how many times we'll have to see tired complaints like this.
Since Apple announced it'd be available in the UK "soon" and all mention of it has since vanished from the Apple UK site, I think the complaints are warranted.
I wonder how many times we'll have to see tired complaints like this.
Regularly for the foreseeable future.
Unless AppleInsider decides to delete those complaints or ban people who post them, neither scenario I imagine happening.
These complaints are just pitiful whining. There is no long-term pedagogical value to them, they don't improve this online community.
Agree with TV needing more targeted advertising. The networks are hurting http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/currency/national-tv-ad-spending-down-2-4th-quarter/137277
Companies are buying less and less TV ads and spending more on digital ads (Internet) that's why we are seeing cable prices increasing, since the networks need to charge cable companies more money to make up for the loss in ad sales. But this in turn is pissing people off and they are canceling cable, or dropping down their plans. The networks need better targeted advertising. They need to be able to show differnt ads to differnt people watching the same show. They will need to partner with Apple, dish (sling TV), Sony and probably Google & Comcast or they will be toast. Hopefully that will bring back advertisers and cost will remain consistent. Will also bring in way more competition, which the classic cable companies will not be able to compete with, and most likey they will just turn into ISP's
I wonder how many times we will have to endure Apple's broken promises.
iTunes Radio 'Coming Soon'
Three years and counting.
This was inevitable... you know the programMatic operation of iAds.
I wonder how this feature will work on iTunes Radio in the UK. Oh, wait... That's right, Apple have forgotten about us.
Same here in Canada. I think they were a bit too optimistic about how profitable iTunes Radio would actually be around the world, and changed directions with buying Beats. Come June, we'll probably see what the future iTunes Radio will be, and it will finally come to more countries.
I wonder how this feature will work on iTunes Radio in the UK. Oh, wait... That's right, Apple have forgotten about us.
I wonder how many times we'll have to see tired complaints like this.
Well, Apple said iTunes Radio was 'coming soon' to the UK, and advertised that you'd get no ads if you had iTunes Match (£21.99 in the UK). In the US, you pay $24.99 (about £17.00), so we get charged £4.99 more for less functionality. And that's been the way for the last three years or so. There's no mention of it on their website now. It's almost like a bait-and-switch.
Regularly for the foreseeable future.
Unless AppleInsider decides to delete those complaints or ban people who post them, neither scenario I imagine happening.
These complaints are just pitiful whining. There is no long-term pedagogical value to them, they don't improve this online community.
Stop being so disingenuous. Were the situation reversed and the EU had iTunes radio but the US did not, do you think that fact would not be commented upon whenever the topic came up? No one in the US would say a word and the issue would not attract any posts?
Surely you understand that Apple would love to roll these services out to as many markets as possible, but international licensing and regulatory for media IP and ecommerce is "complex" to say the least. The barrier to rolling out these services may have to do more with tax laws and regulations in your own country than anything else. I work for an international company and we have had to pull out of profitable markets because hostile regulatory conditions. And Apple doesn't own the IP for the movies and music they stream. Before they can start offering these items to new markets they have to work out licensing and fees with the IP owners.
Canada
Then Apple should never have promised it in the first place.
Apple's whole Raison d'être is springing happy surprises on us when everything is ready, not announcing vapourware. iTunes Radio is vapourware.
Because Apple is the biggest music distributor in the world and the others are not. Legal and licensing is going to be different for Apple than the others. Really this is not that hard to understand. I mean which is more likely: Apple has something "against" international markets and does not want their money? Or there are other legal, licensing, and technical reasons why they cannot deliver the service? In business if someone is doing something that makes no sense, most of the time it is going to be because of lawyers or insurance. (Applies in the medical field, too.)
I suspect it's more that Apple has decided to move on with a differently thought out music plan.