Apple's iAd Reaches 18% Display Ad Spending Share

Apple is making changes to its mobile advertising program called iAd as it moves in on Google's AdMob and beats out Millennial Media for US Mobile Display Ad Spending Share in 2011 according to analysts at eMarketer. As the mobile advertising market grows, Apple has started to make changes which will benefit mobile ad developers as well as advertisers. In its latest set of updates, Apple has reportedly boosted the amount it pays out to mobile app developers allowing advertisements and reduced the minimum ad buy advertisers have to make to run iAd campaigns.

The folks at Adage report that Apple has cut the minimum buy to $100,000 per campaign running on the iPhone and iPad inside apps. That is a massive reduction in the minimum buy, which was previously $500,000. Developers will appreciate the new program, with 70% of those ad revenues generated from ads inside their apps going into their pockets. This should also only serve to increase the already massive share the relatively new program has of the whole market as shown in this eMarketer chart:

Before the changes, developers received a 60% cut of advertising revenue. Along with the minimum buy pricing changes, Apple has also axed an additional fee it previously charged every time users click on an ad. Apple used to charge a fixed rate for every 1000 ad impressions along with an additional click fee.

Contributed by Chris Burns