iAds, the mobile advertising platform that Apple lavished with such love at the last couple of major iOS announcements, has been under way for a little while now, and it seems opinions are divided about the service.
According to the LA Times, early adopters love the service, which is bringing in more customers, and keeping their interest for longer. Both ad sellers and app makers are enjoying the increased traffic and revenue:
Nissan, which created a multilayer interactive ad for its electric LEAF car, said customers spent an average of 90 seconds with the ad — 10 times longer than interaction times for comparable online ads. Moreover, people chose to “tap” on the Leaf iAd five times more frequently than they clicked on regular online display ads for the Leaf.
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“We feel pretty strongly that this is the way to capitalize on where the mobile Web is heading,” said Chad Jacoby, a senior manager of Nissan’s media operations. “What iAd promises is the most progressive thing I’ve seen to date” in digital advertising.
On the flip side, the WSJ is calling the first month a “bumpy start”, due to Apple’s strict controls over the ads. Mimicking their strict protocols for the app store, Apple wants the ads to be carefully crafted, which takes time:
Part of the reason some marketers are experiencing delays in getting their iAds to market is that Apple has kept tight control on the creative aspects of ad-making, something advertisers aren’t used to, according to several ad executives involved with creating iAds.
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That has made the creation of the mobile ads laborious, taking about eight to 10 weeks from brainstorm to completion—longer than normal for most mobile ads, executives said. The building of the actual ad, handled by Apple, in some cases is taking two weeks longer than expected, one person added.
The fact that it costs at least $1 million for a campaign probably doesn’t help matters.
It appears that the high barrier to entry means that it’s harder to get an ad into the system, but that you reap the rewards when it does get through.
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