Apple will expand its iAd mobile advertising network to the UK and France this December, with Germany to follow in January. iAd will launch in Europe with iAds from L’Oréal, Renault, Louis Vuitton, Nespresso, Perrier, Unilever, Citi, Evian, LG Display, AB InBev, Turkish Airlines and Absolute Radio.
Apple says since its US launch in July, iAd has signed on over half of the top 25 leading US national advertisers in just four months, with a projected 21% share of US mobile display advertising revenue for 2010 according to research firm IDC.
“We’re thrilled to add leading global brands to the iAd Network in Europe and create even more great opportunities for developers,” says Andy Miller, Apple’s vice president of iAd. “In just four months, we’ve doubled the number of advertisers on the network and thousands of developers now have a valuable new source of revenue.”
iAds combine the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of Internet advertising, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Apple has iAd commitments for 2010 totaling over US$60 million, which represents almost 50%of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010, says Jobs.
He says that iAds, which are built into iOS 4, allow users to stay within their app while engaging with the ad, even while watching a video, playing a game or using in-ad purchase to download an app or buy iTunes content.
