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There are more announcements in the App store including gaming apps next to kids apps - and even worse, next to gaming addiction recovery ones.
Developer Marco Arment shared a screenshot of the advertising controls for product pages in the App Store. The tool shows that advertisers can choose to show their ads in all app categories, similar app categories, and other categories.
Correction to previous tweet (deleted): Ads on product pages are NOT limited to relevant apps.
You can specifically choose to show your ad on irrelevant apps!
(Just not specific apps. They say "Advertise my casino everywhere", not "Advertise my casino against Overcast".) pic.twitter.com/hrAWdJDyyb
- Marco Arment (@marcoarment) October 26, 2022
Apple also provides a demographic filter allowing app advertisers to choose a country, gender or age range for their ads. Ads aren't necessarily aimed at kids, but they may appear connected to kids' apps, at least on accounts not bound by age restrictions or parental controls.
Of course, the demographic filter doesn't do much if the ad buyer doesn't bother with specific data, either on purpose or accidentally.
Worse still, some gambling apps are attached to gambling addiction app lists. AppleInsider saw several.
Apple has started testing new App Store ad placements in July. It extends ad slots to the App Store's Today page, the "You Might Also Like" section in an app's product page, and the Search tab.
On Tuesday, other developers reported gambling ads appearing on their app pages. For example, Simon Stovring reported that he found gambling ads appearing on his app pages 30% of the time.
Apple's expanded ad placements in the App Store went into effect on October 25. The advertisements will appear in the respective regional App Stores in all countries where it operates, except for China.