For advertisers, there is no minimum budget requirement. In fact, in keeping with its low-lift ethos, brands do not need to generate creative for the platform at all: They simply upload photographs and relevant copy, which Apple will then use to create ad products that mimic the organic results that surround them.
For larger brands or those that want a more customized experience, the platform also allows for a more fine-tuned approach, letting advertisers tweak when campaigns and in which locations campaigns run. As with other Apple inventory, media buyers must transact through the Apple Ads directly, rather than through a demand-side platform.
For Apple, the timing is deliberate. The company’s advertising division rebranded last year, from Search Ads to Apple Ads, in order to emphasize its broadening scope. It already runs sponsored placements in the App Store.
According to Bloomberg, Apple Ads is expected to generate approximately $8.5 billion this year, per Emarketer. Its broader services business now accounts for more than a quarter of the company’s annual revenue, up from under 10% a decade ago.
The broader Apple Business platform is organized around two pillars: “run” and “grow.”
On the “run” side, it includes mobile device management, zero-touch device deployment, and an employee-facing companion app.
New Blueprints features let IT teams pre-configure device settings and apps for groups of employees. Apple Business also introduces business emails and calendars tied to a custom domain, along with up to two terabytes of cloud storage per user.
The “grow” features center on brand visibility and customer engagement across the Apple ecosystem. Businesses can manage their presence in Maps, as well as display branding in Apple Mail and on Tap to Pay checkout screens.
