Apple Increases iAd Revenue Share for Developers

So far developers have earned 70% of the revenue from application downloads from the App Store and 60% from iAd revenue, however yesterday Apple revealed on its Developer Center that developers will now be earning an extra 10% from iAd revenue, boosting it to 70% in total.

The full changes in the updated developers agreement state

(a) Apple Campaigns. Developer shall receive seventy percent (70%) of the Net Advertising Revenue derived from the sale of advertising on the Developer’s Mobile Properties (“Developer Revenue Share”) net of any applicable taxes as provided in Section 6 of this Agreement. The Developer Revenue Share percentage may be adjusted from time to time at Apple’s sole discretion. Notice of material changes to the Revenue Share percentage will be posted on the Company Portal. “Net Advertising Revenue” is defined as gross advertising revenue recognized through the delivery of ads by Apple less: a) any allowances actually made or taken for returns, credits, cash discounts and promotional allowances; and, b) Agency and agent fees, discounts, commissions and referral fees.

Why Apple has decided to make these changes is unclear, however many bloggers are guessing it could be due to the fact that Apple isn’t pleased enough with the adoption of iAds, furthermore Apple lowered the buy-in for advertisers looking to get into the service a few months ago to $100k from $500k and $1,000,000. Recently Apple removed the per-click fees from ads, now relying on impressions alone, according to the original report.

Developers, are you using the iAd platform inside of your apps?