The first iAd for iPad will launch Tuesday for the upcoming Disney movie, “Tron Legacy.” This is a preview of what Apple’s mobile ad format will look like on the iPad, and the only iAd planned for Apple’s tablet for this year, an Apple spokesman told “Advertising Age” (http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=147660).
Here’s how “Advertising Age” describes the ad: “Like its iPhone and iPod Touch predecessors, the first iPad iAd is chock-full of the rich graphics, touch navigation and video native to apps. The full-screen ‘Tron’ ad, which will run in iPad apps such as TV Guide, includes close to 10 minutes of video, images from the movie, a theater locator with showtimes, and a preview of the movie soundtrack with the option to purchase on iTunes without leaving the ad. For the first time in any iAd, users will also be able to send email straight from within the ad.”
Ads 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 percent of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010, says Jobs. He adds that iAd, which is built into iOS 4, allows 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.
Developers who join the iAd Network can incorporate a variety of advertising formats into their apps. Apple will sell and serve the ads, and developers will receive 60% of the iAd Network revenue, which is paid via iTunes Connect. iAds require iOS 4.x.