Upon the iOS 7 release date, iTunes Radio will debut with major advertising partners taking advantage of Apple’s new music streaming service. The likes of McDonalds, Nissan, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble will be featured on iTunes Radio, according to AdAge, with the likelihood of one or two other major household brands to be included.
The good news for those salivating over the idea of iTunes Radio is that with the free sign up, advertisements will appear at a rate of near-scarcity. Even better for those company’s, though, is that their respective deals with Apple worth “high single-digit millions of dollars to tens of millions of dollars” include a year long ad campaign as well as being the sole member of their industry to be featured.
Good for the User
“iTunes Radio listeners will hear one audio ad every 15 minutes and will see a video ad each hour,” according to Mac Rumors. Compare that to Spotify which promotes ads at painstaking 15-second to 30-second clips and, even worse, the interval between Spotify ads isn’t constant. Translation, you could potentially listen to a Spotify ad after every other song.
Better for the Advertiser
Mac Rumors continues “advertisers will later be able to target ads to specific devices.” When comparing user-bases, advertisers can reach a 2012 Financial Times estimate of 20 million users on Spotify, 5 million of whom pay a monthly subscription fee that varies based on locale. Apple’s iPhone boasts, from Q1 2013 through Q3 2013, 116.4 million users all of which will soon have access to iOS 7. And that doesn’t include those who have an iPad either.
How it works
The service allows the user to customize and stream their own music channel, opt for channels specified to artist, song, favorites, etc. and will be completely free of charge as iAds will power its revenue stream. Apple will take note of when you like a song or play it often, and will tailor and suggest stations based on your anayltics. Users will, however, have the option to purchase and download the song afterwards and can even stream ad-free with an iTunes Match subscription–which allows any iTunes user to buy and download music without doubling up on songs or albums they already have, whether it was purchased or taken from another CD.
Bottom Line
While some might think iTunes Radio will fail, I don’t really see it. Apple has bred a devoted user-base which practices loyalty when engaged in its service, from aps to gadgets to services. Apple users ill pay for an ad-free service or individual tracks, and those waiting on iOS 7 with bated breath will only turn to Spotify while iTunes Radio warms up in the bullpen. On top of that, a limited relay of ads to the user added to their steadfast allegiance in tandem with huge payouts by advertisers for exclusivity sounds like a win-win-win to me.
iOS 7 is expected to be released alongside the iPhone 5S, low-cost iPhone 5C, and possibly iPad and iPad mini variants on September 10. That date is unofficial as Apple, in their usual Apple ways, has yet to announce anything formally.
[Image via Mashable]
