Some employees in Apple's ads business are concerned that showing more ads to iPhone users ruins the premium experience that's been offered to its customers, according to The Information.
The Information took a deep dive into how Apple's ads team operates and internal concerns that the company's already growing ads business is going too far. According to the report, Apple's ads salespeople can't use specific words when talking about the company's ads business. Instead of saying "targeting," "platform," and "algorithm," sales people should say "audience refinement."
An Apple spokesman told The Information that the company doesn't allow advertisers to target specific users and that the company wants employees to use language that is appropriate to Apple's offerings. Apple does not allow advertisers to target a demographic of less than 5000 users.
While public, Apple displays a unified front on ads, especially those in the App Store meant to help developers gain more users and customers discover more apps, employees are less than satisfied with the current approach. At least seven employees who worked on Apple's ads team voiced concerns that the company is going too far in its ads business and will damage the premium experience of using an iPhone. According to the report, Apple had a plan to show users ads in Spotlight search on the OS X platform, but it was abandoned after backlash.
According to the report, some managers within Apple's ads department used to push salespeople to pitch ad opportunities to companies that were less relevant to their apps, but that were cheaper than other words. Apple's ads team did not have access to contact information or financial details about developers on the App Store, making it difficult for salespeople to be comfortable.
In the last few weeks, developers, customers, and critics of Apple have all voiced disapproval of the company's plans to expand its ads footprint in the App Store. Reports also suggest Apple plans to introduce ads in Apple Maps and Apple TV+. Even with the expansion in ads, Apple has no ambition to grow its ads business to the size of Meta or Google, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by the report.
But inside Apple there doesn't currently seem to be much appetite for goals that big. One person familiar with Apple's ad business said the company doesn’t harbor ambitions to compete at the same level as Meta and Google in digital advertising, nor does it plan to build an advertising network similar to those of its rivals that would serve ads to users outside its own apps and services. The person said ad executives are pleased with revenue growth based on Apple's existing ad spots and don’t plan to significantly increase the number of ads on iPhones to meet growth targets.
In the meantime, Apple has paused ads on the App Store for certain categories after a bungled roll-out last month. According to Mark Gurman, Apple's advertising chief wants to double the company's revenue from ads to $10 billion a year.
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