Most iAd campaigns expected to miss Apple's July 1 launch

Although marketers have already committed $60 million to rolling out advertisements across Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) fledgling iAd platform, most campaigns are still in development and will miss iAd's official launch on July 1. AdAge reports that the majority of declared iAd advertisers are still fine-tuning their concepts and creative, and are weeks--even months--from going live. "Most advertisers won't be there on July 1; there just isn't enough time," said one agency exec with multiple iAd campaigns in the pipeline. Apple itself is a major contributor to the delays: The computing giant is handling all iAd technical production, telling agencies it needs six to eight weeks to build an ad after the creative is completed.

AdAge notes that most marketers are spending a minimum of $1 million to launch on the iAd network, with some paying more than $10 million for levels of exclusivity within their respective industry vertical--for example, Nissan is the sole automaker advertising on iAd, and Citi is the lone bank. Apple is charging $10.00 per thousand impressions for each iAd banner as well as a cost-per-click fee of $2.00. Execs across multiple brands say funding for their iAd efforts comes not only from their existing mobile budgets but also from their digital, TV and even PR budgets.

iAd could yield developer revenues reaching $825 million this year, according to a research note published last month by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi. Estimating that iPhone developers presently generate $1 billion to $1.8 billion in annual App Store sales, Sacconaghi notes that iAd revenues will herald an annual increase between 40 percent and 80 percent. Sacconaghi anticipates Apple will collect about $815 million from iAd this year: $550 million from apps and $265 million from media providers like publishers and television networks. He adds Apple will generate roughly $58 billion in total worldwide sales this year.

Apple officially unveiled iAd in April. "What we want to do with iAds is to deliver interaction, but also deliver emotion," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "For a lack of an elegant way to say it, we think most of this mobile advertising really sucks, and we think we might be able to make some contributions." Apple's answer: Rich media ads that keep the user within an application, instead of transporting them somewhere else. "We have figured out how to do interactive video content without ever taking you out of the apps," Jobs explained. "We think people are going to be a lot more interested in clicking on these things."

For more on iAd's launch:
- read this AdAge article

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