Apple opens mobileadvertising service

Aiming to fuel revenue growth at the struggling unit, Google has dominant share of US market

Apple Inc is opening its advertising services to partners to help sell promotions more efficiently, aiming to fuel revenue growth at the struggling unit.

Apple, which first rolled out iAd in 2010, will enable automated ads, making it easier to manage and track ad performance, according to Adam Berke, president of AdRoll, a web- advertising firm that’s a new Apple ad partner.

“Launching with a platform and a partner- driven ecosystem is a proven approach, but not one Apple has really embraced previously,” Berke said in an interview. “It gives us the opportunity to bring our 15,000 customers to the iAd platform. It does make a lot of sense for Apple, too — they can immediately switch on a lot of scale.”

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has been making changes to how the company courts marketers, seeking to catch up to Google Inc in the mobile- ad market. IAd distributes promotions on iTunes Radio and programs sold in Apple’s App Store.

Automated, or program- matic, advertising is a key driver of the market for display ads, which includes graphic promotions that can run on smartphones or desktops. It’s projected to make up 63 per cent of the US industry in 2016, up from 24 per cent last year, according to EMarketer Inc. Apple’s iAd feature is predicted to garner just 2.6 per cent of the US market this year, compared with 38 per cent for Google, which holds the top spot, according to EMarketer.

AdRoll is one of seven companies chosen by Apple to deliver automated promotions to iAd’s more than 250,000 mobile developers. The Rubicon Project Inc announced its partnership on November 19. The others include Me-diaMath Inc, The Trade Desk, GET IT Mobile Inc, Accordant Media LLC and Adelphic Inc, according to Apple.

“We’re talking about a company that really has a dominant position in the mobile world,” Berke said of Apple.