It's probably not the kind of press coverage Apple would have been looking to garner, but news the firm has halved the minimum ad spend on iAd to $500,000 has been warmly welcomed by advertisers.

The price cut follows reports earlier in February that suggested the platform's fill rate had fallen from an 18 percent average in 2010 to 6 percent in the months after Christmas.

Though such a drop at the start of the year is not uncommon, some developers were claiming that their apps weren't being filled by ads at all.

The price is right

In response, reports suggest that the new entry price has been designed to give iAd a broader appeal.

Typically, the platform has been seen as a vehicle for the top brands working through the biggest agencies – Apple's insistence on having a role to play in the very design of the ads ensuring speedy campaigns were not a common occurrence.

By dropping minimum costs to $500,000, there's a chance iAd will reach out to advertisers previously frozen out by the platform's pricing structure.

"This new minimum buy is a great step forward and a necessary one, I think," WPP Digital CEO Mark Read told All Things Digital.

"Lowering the minimum buy to $500,000 from $1 million will certainly make the platform more appealing."

[source: All Things Digital]