This is just the beginning

Apple plans to show new ad “placements” to consumers around the holiday season, according to a message sent to developers yesterday and confirmed to CNBC.

📈 Apple → Ad-ple… The company didn’t give many details about the exact location of its new placements. But it comes at a time where Apple is making a concerted push to expand its ads business.

The company currently generates $4 billion/year in advertising revenue, and, according to a recent report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it wants to pump those rookie numbers up to double-digits.

• This means ads are likely also coming to Maps, Books, and Podcasts. And let’s not forget the potential for Apple TV+ to follow Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery by adding another subscription tier containing ads.

📱🥊 Zoom out: Last year, Apple launched app tracking transparency, or ATT, a feature designed to stop third-party apps from tracking you across other apps and websites. The company says 78% of users have opted-in.

But this means Apple’s move to build out its ad business has many folks – like Meta and Snap – channeling Alanis Morisette’s “Ironic,” given the obvious business advantages associated with introducing ATT in parallel. In fact, Meta estimates it’ll take a $10 billion revenue hit this year alone as a direct result – though other analyses put that figure even higher.