iAd Platform will create more clutter for mobile
The “iAd” platform, Apple’s mobile advertising network, will go live on July 1 with spending commitments already secured by major advertisers such as Nissan, Citigroup, Unilever, General Electric,AT&T (the exclusive service provider for the iPhone) and Walt Disney (where Steve Jobs holds a board seat and is a major shareholder).
From their initial announcement, Apple plans to distribute 60% of the revenue generated from the ads to application developers that use iAd to monetize their apps. While Steve Jobs said that the intent is “to help our developers earn money so they can continue to create free and low-cost apps for users”, I feel that any impression-driven ad model tends to drive development that is counter to what users and advertisers really want.
We saw this with Google Adwords when they opened up their content network to CPM pricing. Marketers have created millions of dummy content pages in an effort to capture traffic, drive up useless impressions and push clicks - often confusing users and stripping advertisers of their media.
Another more recent example of an impression-driven ad model not leading to a better user experience is with Facebook applications, which are riddled with deceptive practices and forced installs.
In my opinion, the only model that takes in to consideration the user experience as well as the advertisers goals is a performance based model, since developers and marketers are forced to show highly relevant, engaging ads to targeted users in order to turn a profit.
