Apple News looks to simplify the ad serving process (AAPL)

Apple plans to allow certain publishers to use their own ad technology to fill ad space on their Apple News content, according to people familiar with the matter cited by AdAge.

Publishers can already set up ad campaigns in Apple News articles, but until now were restricted to Apple’s ad technology. The ad serving process is cumbersome because of the additional effort required to go through Apple’s ad server, according to a publishing executive cited by AdAge. With the ad technology changes, Apple may be able to address a key issue for publishers, low monetization.

Here’s why Apple’s planned changes are important:

Apple is positioned to become less of a walled garden by allowing other ad tech platforms to serve ads within Apple News. This could indicate the company has recognized publisher and advertiser desires for more flexibility and industry-wide ad standards.

Ad tech companies are intermediaries between advertisers and publishers, and add value to the ad delivery process by consolidating inventory, automating workflows, and offering precise targeting capabilities at scale. The automation of ad buying is also known as “programmatic advertising” — that is, using technology and software to buy digital ads. Programmatic ad spend in the US is quickly ramping up: It will top $20 billion this year and reach $38.5 billion by year-end 2020.

But ad tech's ascendancy isn’t without its drawbacks. The advertising industry in the US is dominated by two main players: Facebook and Google. As a result, ad tech players are fighting for a pretty small piece of revenue pie, one of the many drivers of increased consolidation in the space.

Kevin Gallagher, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on ad tech that:

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Apple News looks to simplify the ad serving process (AAPL)

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