Last week’s rumours were correct: Apple is shutting down its ‘iAd App Network’ on 30 June this year, representing the failure of the company’s much-vaunted (at launch, anyway) mobile advertising network.
The logical follow-up question for us would have been ‘What happens to iTunes Radio?’ since that aspect of Apple’s music services was originally designed to be funded by iAds.
As if by magic, an announcement on that came from Apple this weekend too: iTunes Radio’s features will now sit behind the paywall of the Apple Music service.
“We are making Beats 1 the premier free broadcast from Apple and phasing out the ad-supported stations at the end of January,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed.
“Additionally, with an Apple Music membership, listeners can access dozens of radio stations curated by our team of music experts, covering a range of genres, commercial-free with unlimited skips.”
Apple’s iOS apps ecosystem still has a robust mobile advertising business for developers – video ads for mobile games are producing decent revenues for a number of developers – but when it comes to Apple’s own apps and services, advertising is currently out of the picture.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…