Apple announced that it will be allowing app developers to pay for ads to appear on the top of search results in the App Store. What makes this change so interesting is that they will make it possible for advertisers who are strapped on time or are new to the advertising game a chance to thrive. They will have a feature called Apple Search Match, which will help those advertisers make basic campaigns in fewer steps. General information such as age, gender, location, etc are available for these basic ad campaigns for the App Store.
Before the launch, Apple is making improvements to its old Ad feature, the iAd. Some of these improvements include a self-serve, second price auction-based platform with no initial minimum spends. When the ads are in full effect advertisers will be able to track “clusters of users” by implementing a few lines of code. As well, App advertisers will now be able to capture search intent in both major app stores and promote their applications across IOS and Android devices.
The search ads for the App Store will not be launched until the fall, but brands and advertisers should jump on the opportunity of the beta versions available now. Through Apple’s developer portal, advertisers can get free downloads of the beta software.