Apple Maps may get in-app ads from next year

As Apple allegedly works to expand its advertising business, people will reportedly start seeing search ads on Apple Maps as soon as 2023. In his newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that he believes the engineering work is already underway, reports MacRumors. Ads in the Apple Maps app would not be the traditional banner ads that you see on websites but rather paid search results, the report said.

“I believe the engineering work is already underway to launch search advertises in the Apple Maps app, and we should begin to see it be implemented sometime next year,” wrote Gurman, in the subscriber-only version of his “Power On” newsletter.

Ads in Apple Maps

The tech giant is also planning to show advertisements in the App Store’s “Today” tab and in a new “You Might Also Like” section at the bottom of app listings, while banner ads are displayed in Apple’s News and Stocks apps. Apple already displays search ads in the App Store, allowing developers to pay to promote their apps to users who search for relevant keywords.

Last week, Gurman said Apple plans to expand its advertising business over time significantly. In his newsletter, he said that Apple’s advertising division is generating about $4 billion in revenue annually and that Apple’s advertising chief Todd Teresi wants to increase that figure to at least $10 billion annually over time.

That’s the bad news, but maybe it won’t be that bad. The in-app advertising won’t be banner ads, which is good. Instead, companies can pay for their name to appear at the top of search results. Sponsored search ads are everywhere these days. Most search engines have sponsored results shown as part of the top results. Now those advertisements will be coming to apps like Apple Maps.

Developers can pay the company to prioritize their software in search results, ensuring it shows up at the top of the page when users input specific terms. At the time, Gurman suggested the test was part of a plan by Apple to significantly expand its advertising revenue. He attributed the push to Todd Teresi, the vice president in charge of the company’s ads business. The division generates about $4 billion in annual revenue, a number Teresi hopes to increase to at least $10 billion per year over time.