Report: Apple explored ads in Apple Maps as it weighs broader ads push

techcrunch.com:

A new report from Bloomberg indicates Apple may be expanding its advertising business beyond the App Store and other first-party apps like News and Stocks. This plan could see Apple introducing ads into other pre-installed, first-party apps like Apple Maps, where ads have already been explored internally, the report claimed. And later, Apple may roll out ads to other Apple apps, like Books and Podcasts.

The additions could help increase the annual revenue for Apple’s ads business, currently $4 billion, to reach the double digits, the report noted, making Apple a more sizable player in the digital ads industry.

Today, Apple serves a variety of ads across its App Store, including display ads on the Store’s Search tab in addition to the Search Ads that appear at the top of the search results when users type in specific keywords to locate apps. Recently, Apple was said to be expanding its selection of App Store advertising slots to also include ads on the main Today tab and at the bottom of third-party apps’ listing in the “You Might Also Like” section of app recommendations.

Elsewhere, Apple runs display ads within its first-party News and Stocks apps and it broadcast ads within its Apple TV+ live streams of MLB games and pre-game shows. (It shares a cut of its News ad revenue with publishers, we should note.)

According to Mark Gurman’s Bloomberg Newsletter, Apple has already internally tested Search Ads within Maps. These work similarly to the App Store Search Ads, he says, as they would allow an advertiser to bid on keywords in order to have their business returned when a user searched for a particular term.

Meanwhile, the report suggests publishers could pay to have their work appear higher in search results in Apple’s Books