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Ads will appear in the Today tab and a “You Might Also Like” section.
Last week, Apple announced in an email to developers picked up by MacRumors that, starting October 25, the App Store will be featuring more advertising content. Specifically, ads will begin running in the App Store’s Today tab, as well as in a “You Might Also Like” section at the bottom of individual apps’ pages.
“With a Today tab ad, your app can appear prominently on the front page of the App Store — making it some of the first content users see when they begin their App Store visit,” Apple writes in a help page about Apple Search Ads. “The prominence of this placement makes it a good option to drive awareness of your app, especially for new content launches, special events, and seasonal promotions.”
Besides the baseline headache of more ads to navigate, some analysts have noted that this could be another effort on Apple’s part to keep all app business strictly within the bounds of the App Store proper. “It’s another means of increasing the effective app tax rate, forcing developers to buy ads on their own app pages in order to avoid that others steer customers away from there,” legal expert Florian Mueller wrote on his Twitter.
Starting October 25, the App Store will feature more ads pic.twitter.com/5nUq0aAlEr
— Anthony (@TheGalox_) October 22, 2022
This move follows recently-established goals from Apple to begin boosting ad revenue. Apple wants to add as many ads to not only the App Store, but other services like Apple Maps with the intent of tripling ad revenue year over year for every year going forward.
