Advertising on a mobile device is a growing venue for ads, since mobile devices can easily show images and run videos, even let you install apps from an ad. Smart watches, on the other hand, are much more limited, and the Apple Watch is starting out with some significant drawbacks for advertisers, with no video playback, for instance. It’s not even clear what sort of advertising Apple may allow or disallow.
That’s not to say some people haven’t tried, though. AdAge reports that, before the launch of the Apple Watch next month, some companies have tackled advertising on werables on other devices such as Pebble Time and Android Wear. That’s not to say that the sales have always hit their mark, however, as Google’s product is still trying to find a key audience amidst a poor debut.
A few videos of such wearable ads can be found here, providing examples of how advertising can be effective on such a small device.
Even with some predicting wild sales (JP Morgan estimates 26 million units of the Apple Watch sold for this year alone), many companies are still on the fence just yet – and, again, it’s due to the limited format. VentureBeat reports that some of the ideas for the device will be “too niche to be significant,” such as with coupons popping up while passing by a particular store. Such an idea is “clever in theory, but will be complicated to scale.”
“New apps need sizable audiences to generate revenue,” says the article. “When experimenting with a new product and platform, developers nearly always avoid cluttering the experience with unproven ads. Only when adoption and retention levels are healthy and well-understood will developers integrate ad-based monetization.”
While many developers will be familiar with Apple’s iOS ecosystem when the Watch launches, however, there should be no problem finding interactive programs that work at launch, with “clean and thoughtful” ad implementations and a few “novel games and social applications” expected to be popular around launch. However, developers need to “find creative ways to carefully introduce ‘native’ ads into their experience,” according to the article.
One thing that Apple needs to ensure, however, is full disclosure on what advertising terms come with the device. “Guidelines on this have not been released, and given Apple’s lack of enthusiasm about advertising-based revenue, I would not be surprised to see Apple forbid some or all obvious forms of ads, at least until it feels the platform is off to a successful launch with consumers,” the author stated.
We’ll see how things fare when the Apple Watch hits retail next month.
