Report: Apple planning to expand advertising in more of its first-party apps

A new Bloomberg report published this week revealed Apple, Inc. has plans to boost revenue by expanding advertising into some of its more popular first-party apps.

According to Bloomberg, Apple plans on adding ads to its Apple Maps app, which has until now managed to remain ad-free, unlike some of its major competitors like Google Maps and Waze. Apple currently generates about $4 billion in revenue a year, and by adding advertisements to applications such as Maps, Books and Podcast. Apple can increase that revenue into what Apple execs reportedly hope will be “double digits.”

In 2021, Apple allowed users to opt out of allowing ad-tracking on their apps, and most users chose to opt out. Due to the opt-out, advertisers have found it difficult to serve Apple users with ads and to carry out accurate ad-tracking, especially tracking downloads and purchases resulting from those ads. The opt-out only applies to some Apple first-party apps, however, so apps created by others can still track user data.

“AAPL has best-in-class user data,” said analysts from asset management firm Needham. “If it builds a DSP (demand side platform), AAPL can control how and where its data gets used, and can prevent data leakage outside their Walled Garden.”