Apple News now lets all publishers use Google's industry standard ad-serving tool DoubleClick, after limited testing last year.


Apple told Digiday that DoubleClick can now be used to serve traditional banner ads on Apple News, including animated GIF ads, but it can't yet be used to serve HTML5-based ads or pre-roll video ads in the app.

The rollout should make it easier for publishers to sell and fill ad space next to their articles on Apple News. Apple lets publishers keep 100 percent of the revenue from the Apple News ads they sell directly.

"We're thrilled with the results we've seen from the Apple News DFP beta," said Beth Lawrence, executive vice president of digital sales for Discovery. "We've seen strong fill rates across our Apple News channels for Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel, with a peak fill rate over 90 percent."

DoubleClick-served ads in Apple News have limited targeting options, in line with Apple's commitment to user privacy:
The ad-targeting options break down into two categories: context-based targeting and audience-based targeting. Contextual ads can be aimed based on the article's publisher, its content category within Apple News and the tags a publisher appends to the individual article as well as according to whether it appears on an iPhone or iPad. Audience-wise, the ads can be targeted by a person's location (though only at the designated market area level), their gender and their age group.
Apple previously used its now-defunct iAd platform to fill unsold ad space in Apple News, but it later outsourced the job to NBCUniversal.


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