According to a report from Advertising Age, Apple may not be the heartless, money-grabbing company many suggest it is.
The report highlights that Apple is leaving money on the table by refusing to hand over valuable users’ information to advertisers.
“Measuring U.S. mobile ad revenues only, Google and Facebook tower over Apple,” Kate Kaye reports for Advertising Age. “Top dog Google garnered $3.98 billion in mobile in the U.S. in 2013 while second-ranking Facebook generated $1.53 billion, according to eMarketer. Apple collected $258 million in U.S. mobile-ad revenue last year. It mainly sells ads in mobile apps, and introduced its iTunes Radio streaming ads in September 2013. The company does not sell online display advertising or search ads.”
Apple reportedly knows names and addresses, geographic locations and app and music-purchase histories, and can show ad buyers that a group with specific characteristics also likes certain types of apps or music.
“Apple’s user tracking and ad targeting are not cookie-based, meaning agencies can’t do automated buys via their cookie-centric trading desks, which allow them to mesh lots of data from different sources. Instead, they have to go to Apple, ask to reach a given audience and, well, trust Apple that it will deliver it,” reports said.
“It’s one of the best in terms of data quality and accuracy … but I think Google is a little more open,” said Dan Grigorovici, co-founder of mobile-ad firm AdMobius, who was a software manager at Apple until 2012 and a principal developer of iAd’s measurement and analytics capabilities.
“One person familiar with the situation exec said Apple’s refusal to share data makes it the best-looking girl at the party, forced to wear a bag over her head,” according to the report.
