Sources: Apple is preparing to introduce ads in its Maps app, allowing retailers and brands to bid for ad slots against search queries
Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce advertising in its Maps app, part of a broader push to generate more money from services.
BloombergMark Gurman
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple has been extending its advertising inventory for years, including a planned second App Store search placement and later Search tab campaigns in the App Store. Maps takes that search-ad model into a location-oriented product used by retailers and brands.
The reported move also sits alongside Apple’s effort to consolidate business-facing tools through Apple Business. That combination could make Maps a more direct commercial channel for merchants while broadening Apple’s services monetization.
First-order effects
Retailers and brands would gain a prospective way to bid for visibility against Maps searches, turning relevant local queries into paid placements.
Apple would add another ad surface beyond the App Store, creating a new services-revenue opportunity from its existing Maps product.
Second-order effects
Merchants that depend on local discovery may need to test paid Maps placement against their existing search and location-marketing budgets, increasing competition for high-intent local queries.
Apple will have to set category and eligibility rules for a consumer utility product; its subsequent Maps ads policy restrictions illustrate how those rules can shape which advertisers can participate.
Third-order effects
If Apple continues to apply search advertising across first-party services, its platform economics shift further toward extracting revenue per active device rather than relying only on hardware transactions.
The key long-term tension is whether more commercial placement preserves Maps’ usefulness and trust; policy choices and ad load will determine whether the format becomes a durable local-ad channel.
The trend: Apple is broadening first-party, intent-based advertising across its services as it seeks more revenue from its installed base.
The system will work similarly to App Store ads. Retailers, restaurants etc will be able to bid for search terms. So if you search for “coffee,” the highest paying local coffee shop will be shown first as an ad. Also similar to Google and Yelp.
Last April, in a piece titled Apple's advertising ambitions, I posited that Apple's introduction of view-through attribution to the AdServices API — as well as the renaming of Apple Search Ads to, simply, Apple Ads — could portend the introduction of ads to Apple Maps. [image]
NEW: Apple is launching ads in Apple Maps in search this summer in major advertising expansion. It'll be announced as early as this month. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
I've been happily using Apple Maps and switched from Google Maps about three years ago, so I don't get why people hate on it. I don't love the idea of ads being worked into it though, but I can't see myself switching back so long as the basic user experience remains the same.