Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, is considering restructuring Apple’s services business to redirect more attention to streaming and advertising, according to a report from Insider. In its most recent earnings report, Apple said its services, which include the App Store, Apple Pay, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and iCloud, added 825 million subscribers and earned $19.8 billion in revenue.
As part of the shake-up, Cue has reportedly pulled Peter Stern, Apple’s current vice president of services, off of advertising to focus solely on its services division. Sources close to the situation told Insider that Todd Teresi, Apple’s vice president of advertising platforms, has absorbed Stern’s previous advertising duties and now reports directly to Cue after getting promoted at the beginning of this year. “The Services portfolio is too big now, with too many other growing segments,” a source told Insider. “The ad business is big enough to live on its own.”
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy, which it implemented last year, could’ve been a factor in the growth of Apple’s ad business. The policy requires developers to ask users for permission to track various types of data — opting out prevents apps from using advertising tools to deploy targeted ads.
As Insider notes, analysts report the policy has pushed companies to spend more of their budget on App Store search ads instead of other products. It included data from the research firm Omdia saying Apple grew its ads business by 238 percent to $3.7 billion in 2021 when compared to 2020 and predicts the company will earn $5.5 billion in ads alone this year
Apple even offers ad slots during its Friday Night Baseball livestreams, and it’s possible that Apple may want to expand its sports footprint even further. Insider mentioned that Apple may try to score broadcasting rights to the NBA, and there has been a report from Puck claiming acquisition of NFL Sunday Ticket streaming is a “done deal.” Apple didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.