When the iPhone 4 was released, some speculated that the iAd mobile advertising network would present a viable competitor for Google AdWords – especially since Apple pushed Google Mobile out of its mobile device market. Now, iAd stands even stronger in the mobile advertising industry thanks to impressive returns reported since the network’s July 1 release.
Jason Ting posted details of initial iAd earnings for an LED camera flash application in a drop box on Hacker News, and the results of his first-day earnings may be some of Apple’s best press. The developer has seen a click-through rate of nearly 12 percent and 9,300 impressions. He claims he has generated $147.55 per thousand views, for a total of $1,372.20 in revenue in a single day.
Many argue that iAds are a novelty and people are currently clicking them at unsustainable rates. Still, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says the iAd network aims to transform the ad-viewing experience for mobile users. At WWDC 2010, he promoted iAd as an advertising platform that would engage consumers and encourage continuous clicks, saying, “the iAd offers advertisers the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web and offers users a new way to explore ads without being hijacked out of their favorite apps.”
Whether working through iAd or not, marketers can’t ignore the strong potential of mobile marketing to reach the masses – and with mobile application usage on the rise, ads that don’t interfere with apps may be important to catching consumers’ interests. Recent data reveals that one in three of the 20 percent of Americans who have smartphones visit businesses they find through local search applications.
