Analysis: Apple Search Ads now account for 58% of iOS app installs from an ad click, up from 17% a year ago; Apple to earn $5B from its ads business in FY 2021
iPhone maker's share of mobile app advertising market has tripled in six months — Apple's advertising business has more than tripled …
Financial TimesPatrick McGee
Context & Ripple Effects
The App Store was already a high-value commercial channel: earlier coverage found its revenue materially ahead of Google Play, and later analysis tracked sustained growth in user spending. Apple Search Ads turns that established storefront into a more consequential paid-acquisition route, not merely a place to complete a download.
The trajectory also aligns with Apple’s later plan to add more App Store search-result ad opportunities, extending the same distribution surface that this report shows becoming central to ad-click installs.
First-order effects
Apple gains a larger advertising business alongside its App Store economics, with the report projecting $5 billion in FY2021 ad revenue.
App developers seeking paid iOS installs face a market in which Apple Search Ads accounts for 58% of installs attributed to an ad click, concentrating acquisition activity in Apple’s storefront.
Second-order effects
Developers and mobile-ad buyers have greater incentive to prioritize App Store search campaigns and their associated bidding budgets over alternative routes to iOS app discovery.
Apple’s subsequent expansion of App Store search ads adds inventory to a channel already carrying a dominant share of ad-click installs, increasing Apple’s leverage over how developers buy visibility.
Third-order effects
If this concentration persists, iOS app distribution becomes more vertically integrated: Apple controls the store, the search placement, and an expanding share of the paid route into apps.
The pattern points toward App Store monetization being measured increasingly in advertising revenue per active device as well as commissions and consumer spending.
The trend: Apple is converting control of iOS app discovery into a larger advertising business, making paid placement in its storefront a core distribution channel for developers.
Chart of the Day: @Apple's advertising business has more than tripled its market share in the six months after it introduced privacy changes to iPhones that obstructed rivals, including @Facebook and @Google, from targeting ads at consumers. *A Thread* https://twitter.com/...
This was predicted by ad exes when apple introduced the ad policy for third party platfroms. Wait till 2-3 more years when apple becomes one of the top ad platfrom. Do say then apple is an advertising company!!😑 https://www.techmeme.com/...
Despite pointing out how blatantly Apple was tilting the iOS ads playing field in their favor I'm still stunned at how quickly they changed the ad industry dynamics in 6 months. This is the most obviously anticompetitive act I've ever seen which many in tech media praised. Fail! …
Apple's “privacy” changes have tripled the market share of their advertising business as they've made ads on iOS less relevant thus forcing advertisers to flock to App Store search ads. They stand to make $5B this year and now own 58% of app install ads. https://www.ft.com/...
Remembering every so-called competition expert who praised Apple's ATT changes, while accusing people like me raising the red flag about how blatantly anticompetitive it was of being paid shills for Facebook. Fun times. https://twitter.com/...
From the minor leagues to winning the World Series - great reporting on how Apple's ‘privacy’ posturing this year has given them a major windfall in advertising (you don't say?!) by @PatrickMcGee_ & contributions by @alexdbauer https://twitter.com/...
Search Ads now drives 58% of all iOS app installations that can be tied back to paid ads, according to @Branch, whose basket of data comprises 250 major apps including BuzzFeed, Instacart, Strava and Starbucks. That's more than three times its 17% share a year ago https://twitter…
As I have said, with the scale Apple has & kicks out opportunities for likes of Google & Facebook to monetise in the Apple eco, @Apple alone can generate tens of billions of dollars in advertising revenue every quarter w/o compromising #privacy. Gr8 piece from @PatrickMcGee_ http…
Apple heavily leveraged their brand alignment with privacy to build yet another multibillion dollar vertical as part of its continued shift into a services company that's less dependent on hardware margins & purchasing frequency alone Unparalleled strategy tbh https://twitter.com…
Apple's advertising business has tripled (!!!) its market share in the 6 months after it introduced privacy changes to iPhones. https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...