The page on App Store ad placement on Apple’s website says: “With today’s tab ads, your app can be featured prominently on the App Store home page — making it some of the first things users see when they start visiting the App Store. “
This marks the first time that developers will be able to run ads on the “Today” tab, which so far has only shown content curated by the App Store editorial staff, without any paid ads. With the “You might also like” section, developers can now promote their apps on other apps’ pages.
In a tweet, legal expert Florian Mueller argued that “you might also like” ads are another means of “increasing the actual “applied tax” rate, forcing developers to buy ads on their own app pages , to prevent others from directing customers away from them.”
Ads on the App Store were previously limited to keyword-based search results and the “Suggestions” section of search tags. With the “Today” tab and “You Might Like” section ads, the App Store will now offer a total of four ad options. Apple first announced plans to expand advertising on its App Store in July.
In August, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple hopes to nearly triple its current ad revenue in the future to at least $10 billion a year. In addition to the App Store, Gurman said Apple plans to roll out search results ads in Apple Maps next year, where traditional banner ads already appear in Apple’s News and Stocks apps.