Wait, could Apple end up disrupting TV ads?

With MLB, and maybe the NFL, did Tim Cook just crash the upfront?

Is Apple going to accidentally end up in the TV advertising business?

I was wondering about this as I read more about Apple’s recent deal to stream a collection of Major League Baseball games on Friday nights this season - and moreso when CNBC reported that Apple remains a viable favorite to land the coveted NFL Sunday Ticket deal when it comes up in 2023.

Jabari Young @JabariJYoung

With #MLB rights secure #NFL media properties the focus. Most expect #Apple to land NFL rights “There’s no [company] out there that has the dry powder (money) that Apple has — even Amazon included in that list” said @Octagon analyst Dan Cohen #Sportsbiz

cnbc.comAfter MLB streaming deals, the battles for two big NFL media properties come into focusThe NFL’s valuable Sunday Ticket package is on the market, and industry observers say it could go for $3 billion.

Getting a few MLB games that few outside local markets would care much about is one thing. Landing Sunday Ticket would be a literal game changer for Apple or Amazon or whoever else grabs it, given:

• a)the massive popularity of the sport

• b) the fact that Sunday Ticket would no longer be tied to a company that makes you get a satellite dish at your house and

• c)the explosive rise in sports betting that Sunday Ticket lends itself to beautifully

So clearly, advertising would not be the thrust of such a $3 billion deal. More than likely it’s an afterthought of an afterthought.

And I’m truly not even sure how the MLB and potential NFL deals would work ads-wise. Help me out. Does Apple get the two minutes of ad time that a cable distributor typically controls? More or less? I’m assuming in both cases, the majority of ads would mirror what normally would run local markets?

Regardless, given that Apple plans to at least produce a live pregame show for MLB, and would presumable do something special along those lines for the NFL, sponsors will be calling. It certainly appears that the company is going to be in and around the TV ad business in way that it never has been before - and seemingly never wanted to be.

So what will that mean. After all, Apple has long had a love hate relationship with ads over the years. We don’t have to go through the whole history- it bought a mobile ad network, launched iAds, misfired badly, bailed within a few years.

Then over the past few years Apple declared nuclear war on digital advertising, while also ending up with a nice little ‘accidental’ $5 billion mobile search ad business along the way. As many have speculated, there is so much more they could do there now that ad revenue is becoming meaningful, but it’s still hard to read the tea leaves (consider that Apple still outsources sales for Apple News).

When it comes to TV, well, credit Apple for being early in the connected TV game. Yet Apple TV devices have long been pricey compared to Rokus and Amazon Fires, and as far as I know, the company has never made a play like Roku to sell ads on AppleTV apps and or/build its own TV ad tech.

That feels like big missed opportunity to own the iOS.

Years ago, there were numerous reports and rumors that Apple was preparing to make an actual TV (which never happened). And of course, the company famously tried and failed to disrupt TV like the music business, struggling to get how TV sellers think, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Today, the fledgling Apple+ service stands out in that it’s very much following the Netflix playbook in that ads are just not part of the deal- never mind how many brands would line up to sponsor a feel good hit like Ted Lasso.

Sports on the other hand, don’t really do ad-free.

So does Apple build out an ad sales force? Use whatever inventory it gets to promote its own wares? Do they outsource TV ads to local stations or something? Let the sports leagues handle this?

Or do they smell a big opportunity?

For my money (and what do I know?) - my bet would be that Amazon gets Sunday ticket. The company is already producing Thursday Night Football this year, and is all in on the advertising business. There are tons of creative commerce things Amazon could try with the NFL.

But if Apple sees sport as a way to put Apple+ into a different stratosphere, things could get really interesting. One theory that I just made up -Google’s had a lovely relationship with Apple on the iPhone. Maybe the pair could work something out that lets Google’ take over any TV ads during Apple sports broadcasts.

After all, we’re all frenemies here.

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Andrey Boborykin is the CEO of Ukrayinska Pravda, the leading independent news publication in Ukraine. Ukrayinska Pravda has continued operating since the Russian invasion, publishing in Ukrainian, Russian and English, even as staff has been forced to scatter throughout the country. Some staff in Russian occupied areas have been detained. Andrey and his family left Kyiv for Mykolayiv, in southern Ukraine, until the fighting reached there. They are now in Chernivtsi, a city in southwestern Ukraine close to the border with Romania. Andrey explained the challenges the independent Ukrainian news media business faces on top of security concerns for staff:

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