Apple has hired former Adobe executive Todd Teresi to run its iAD advertising service. According to Bloomberg, which cited “people familiar with the matter,” Teresi will become vice president of iAD and report to Apple’s Media Division Chief, Eddie Cue.
Teresi served as vice president of Adobe’s Media Solutions division for the past nine months. During his stint at Adobe, he managed digital publishing suite software that enabled publishers to put out digital editions of their magazines via iPad, iPhone, and other Android devices. Before joining Adobe, Teresi was the chief revenue officer at Quantcast Corporation. Now, it looks like Apple is tapping his expertise to help out with their iAD service.
Apple launched iAD in 2010 in a bid to pick up a slice of mobile advertising revenue. However, since its launch it has had limited success with advertising bosses complaining that the service costs more than similar initiatives and works only on Apple devices. Apple trails Google Inc. (GOOG) in the mobile advertising market, which may generate $4.4 billion by 2015.
“Charging premium prices and reaching only Apple devices is a much harder sell,” said Noah Elkin, analyst at EMarketer. “That has been a huge stumbling block.”
This new position will make Teresi the main liaison between Apple and Madison Avenue, the heart of the industry in New York. The role, was previously held by Andy Miller, a founder of Quattro Wireless Inc, which Apple acquired two years ago, and was used as the basis for iAd.
Besides creating revenue for Apple, the iAd program was developed as another way for developers to make money. When an iAd is carried within an app, Apple gives the developer 60 percent of the ads revenue. When the system was introduced last year, the ads were more interactive and graphically rich than others being shown on the mobile device.
Faced with Google’s competition, Apple has become more creative and flexible with their ads. Apple has trimmed the minimum ad purchase price required and has offered to be more involved and help companies build successful promotions. Developers hope that Teresi will be able to create a new way to integrate successful ads in their mobile devices that will not only bring in revenue, but keep the consumer and the users of the devices happy.
Tom Neymayr, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, declined to confirm if Teresi is heading the iAD department, while Jodi Sorensen, a spokeswoman for Adobe, confirmed that Teresi is no longer working at the company.
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Edited by
Jennifer Russell