Apple is expanding the usage area of its app store advertising platform, Search Ads, and making it available to developers in Türkiye and 20 new countries. This step allows developers to reach more users in local markets.
Apple Search Ads, which was previously implemented in Brazil and achieved successful results, will be available to developers in 20 more countries, including Türkiye. Apple’s advertising solution provides application developers with the opportunity to promote their products through various types of advertisements that appear in front of users in the application store. These ads appear on the App Store’s Today tab, search page, search results, and product pages of other apps. Thus, users may encounter ads even before searching for an application.
Expansion opens new opportunities for small developers
One of the most striking features of Apple’s Search Ads service is that it works with the pay-per-click (CPT) model. In this model, developers only pay when users click on their ads, which is a significant advantage especially for small developers with limited budgets. Additionally, according to Apple’s data, this advertising model provides developers with twice as many views as organic search results.
With this new expansion of Apple Search Ads, it was announced that the service will be available in 91 countries in total. New countries including Turkey include Algeria, Mongolia, Morocco, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Ghana, Bahrain, Iraq, Cyprus, Armenia, Luxembourg, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya and Iceland. is taking. While developers in these countries could only target international markets until now, they will now be able to directly reach potential customers in their own countries.
This expansion decision once again reveals the increasing importance of ads in Apple’s App Store ecosystem. When the Search Ads platform was first launched, there was controversy about some ad categories appearing in inappropriate places. In particular, the inclusion of gambling and betting applications side by side with professional software was met with reaction by developers and users. Following these reactions, Apple stopped the display of certain ad categories in some sections and continues to maintain these restrictions. The company regularly shares details with developers about which categories these advertising restrictions cover.
It is thought that Apple Search Ads will offer new opportunities to local developers in countries such as Türkiye, where mobile application usage is rapidly increasing. As part of the global expansion, thanks to this service, developers will have the chance to introduce their applications to a wider audience, while local users will have faster access to applications developed in their region.
This move by Apple shows that the influence of mobile platforms in digital advertising is increasing and the competition in the application ecosystem will become even more intense. It is anticipated that developers will be able to gain a competitive advantage by effectively using solutions such as Apple Search Ads, especially in dynamic markets such as Türkiye. On the other hand, such advertising platforms will also need to be managed with the right strategies in terms of sustainability.